Clearview High
by ShortStop2016
Summary: Ravannah and Alexandria have just begun their Sophomore year together. Which has had a very weird vibe to it. Both of them having to deal with their group of friends, family and odd relationships - these two friends have to band together to survive the perils of high school. (Full summary inside because it won't fit)
1. Pilot

**Before anyone freaks out, yes there has been a Title and Summary change. It's better than what was before, but here's the full summary because it wouldn't fit: **

**Ravannah Blair Sanderson and Alexandria Vera Makarov have just begun their Sophomore year together. Which has had a very weird vibe to it. Both of them having to deal with their group of friends, family and some odd relationships - these two friends have to band together to survive the perils of high school. Especially when Alex's brother is none other than the notoriously bad Vladimir Makarov. Nor is it for Ravannah and Gary being the only set of twins in school. ****But can their friendships and relationships survive the year? **

**Ravannah Sanderson belongs to QuietAlias, who is not on fanfiction. We're writing this together and share the story. **

**P.S. John MacTavish is Jason in this. Two John's was confusing! **

**OoOo**

The third week of school has begun, teens still groggy from summer vacation being over. Sun barely peeking over the east horizon, Ravannah checked her watch. It was 6:30 in the morning, but she and Alex were the only ones out of their group present. Usually, everyone is here by now so they could walk to the diner around the corner and get some breakfast that didn't taste like the cardboard 'food' the school served. As a gust of wind blew Ravannah's bangs into her eyes again, she sighed loudly. "I flipped my brother out of bed when I left this morning, I hope he didn't just inch under his bed again to fall back asleep."

Alex shoved her hands in her pockets and watched as kids entered the school, but not one of them was one of her friends. It didn't surprise her that the others weren't up yet. Boys will boys, and that meant being late.

"My brother woke me up this morning. Very rudely, actually. I tried getting Jason and Simon up this morning. But with how those two acted, you'd think they were being taken to their own funeral."

She kicked at a rock in front of her and watched it bounce off the sidewalk until it landed in the street.  
Maybe if those two hadn't stayed up all night and had actually been responsible, they wouldn't feel like they hadn't slept in three days. But who was she kidding? Neither of them would ever be responsible. At least, not for anything involving the word school.

Ravannah's eyes watched as her brother Gary slunk over, his ebony, 'emo' styled hair brushed messily in to place – bangs over his left eye. He collapsed down next to her, using her shoulder to support his head.

"Ah, you're walking among us, baby bro."

Gary's nose turned up at being called baby brother, "A thirty mintute difference hardly makes me a baby brother."

"Born last makes you the baby, Gary."

Alex smiled a sleepy smile at Gary. She, like Gary, was no morning person. "Morning sleeping beauty. Get enough beauty sleep?"

He moved the bangs from his face, "I don't know, what do the bags under my eyes say? Do they say 'Alex is a sarcastic meanie'? Because that's what my brain is saying right now."  
Ravannah pulls his head back onto her shoulder, "Now, now, go back to sleep. Do you need a lullaby?"  
"You two are a bunch of bitches…"

Alex laughed at him and took a sip of her coffee. Out of the corner of her eye she watched as her brother, Vladimir, came around the corner of the school, slut on his arm and his gang rate behind him. She was at Jason's house all Saturday because of those two. She rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to Gary and Ravannah

"You know Gary, this sarcastic meanie rate here has a solution to your problems. Either go to sleep early so you're not so crabby, or have some of this here coffee." She smiled to herself. "Jason and Simon could probably use some coffee about now. How much longer you think they'll be, Ravannah?"

Ravannah rolled her eyes, "Jason wouldn't stop texting me last night, and the last one I got was at two thirty, him claiming that he was going to die alone. You know the final out of like, fifty text messages after I muted my phone." Her hand lifted a can of an energy drink named "Drink Me" to her lips.  
"He needs to get off my sister's nuts," Gary muttered, nibbling a cookie.

Alex laughed. "I don't think there's a chance of that happening, Gar-bear. You're sister here is very attractive, if I do say so myself." Alex winked. "I'm not into to girls, but your sister is cute. Not to be creepy or anything."

He inched in his way closer to Ravannah, "Gary, we came from a split embryo, quit trying to mold us back together."

"But we are one!" His arms latched around her, "Come back to me, Ravan!"

"You are so weird!" She laughed, playfully pushing her brother away. She glanced up when she felt someone holding her shoulders, "Oh, hey, Jason? What's with the frown?"

"You quit texting me," He jokingly sniffled.

"Oh, you're such a child."

"You ain't the one who had to listen to it all night, Ravan."

Simon appeared beside him and moved over to Alex. "I was about to go over to your house, Al. How was your night anyways. Heard some yelling."

She shrugged. "Brother being an asshole again, nothing to worry about."

"I could do something about him," Gary puffed out his chest, "for my love."

Simon's fist collided with Gary's arm, "Say it again, and you'll be talking through a straw, mate."

On the floor, Gary hysterically rolled about, "Holy shit that hurt!" He laughed out through breaths.  
The commotion from the small group caught the attention of the surrounding people, watching Simon shake his fist as Gary tried to calm his laughter on the floor. Jason shaking his head slowly, rolling Gary over with his foot. Ravannah and Alex just stared at each other, trying not to let out laughter themselves. They really should not encourage him. "Oh, great." Ravannah grumbled, "These idiots got your brother's friends' attentions."

Alex looked over at her brother - he didn't look happy. Actually, he never looked happy if Gary, Jason, Simon, and Ravan were involved. She looked at each of her brother's friend's faces - Rojas, Foley, Zakhaev, Volk, Yuri - and others followed. "Well shit. Now look at you idiots did!"

Her previous amusement was replaced with anger. She did not need problems with her brother this early in the day. Lunch would be fine, but not before school had even started!

Vlad casually walked over and Alex back up to Simon's chest. "Hey little sis, what's up?" Alex rolled her eyes as he looked to Gary. "And you, kid, you running your mouth again?"

Gary frantically stumbled to his feet, Ravannah pulling him gently by his arm. Her eyes glancing over to him, "Gary, are you okay?"

"Yeah," his eyes trail over Vladimir, "let's go, yeah?"

Ravannah linked her arm with Alex's, "C'mon, the diner can't wait all day and neither will school."

Alex knew Vlad wasn't done as he stepped forward. Out of her protectiveness of her friends, she grabbed her brothers arm tightly. It not only shocked her that she was willing to make such a statement in front of the school, but the crowd around them as well.

Vlad glared down at her. "Brat, let go of me rate now."

She tightened her grasp on his arm. "Vovka, don't make a scene. You don't want to beat the shit out him and get expelled on the third week of school, do you?:

It was a long shot, but it was his senior year next year. If he got expelled, he wouldn't be a senior next year. Vlad took a long look at her and then looked at someone in their group, but she paid no attention to whom. If there was one thing she knew, taking her eyes off Vlad one minute could lead to fight the next.

With a jerk that threw her against Ravan, Vlad freed his arm of her grasp. "You tell your friend to keep his fucking trap shut, got it?" Alex nodded and watched him walk back to his friends. Vlad and his friends wouldn't take being made weaklings by a sophomore so lightly, especially when that sophomore was his little sister. Now she had to go home to that today.

Alex turned around and glared at Gary. "Thank you, smart mouth, for making my life even more miserable."

Gary's eyebrows furrowed, "Whoa, wait. You back your mouth up. All I did was make a joke, and Simon had to take it up the fucking ass. I didn't do a damn thing wrong beside make a small little joke. Another thing, _you're_ the one who grabbed his arm, not me. So, don't even look at me for anything right now, because the two mainly at fault are you and Simon."

Ravannah sighed, "How about we all just drop it and get some breakfast? It's six-forty-five in the morning, we're all tired and we're all hungry."

Alex glared at Gary. He had his point though. She sighed and hit Gary playfully. "Dude, I wish I could stay mad at you for more than three minutes." She wasn't mad at him or at Simon rate now, but just worried about going home. Home meant Vlad and his gang.  
She looked to Ravan. "Hey, if my mom will let me, can I spend the night at your house, say, for the rest of my life? I mean, I love all you, but I really don't feel like dying."

Ravannah chuckled slightly as they made their way towards the diner, "I could go home with you after school today, if you want."

Jason looked back to see Vlad watching them leave, "There's something up with him, like he's got a hard-on for our group. I mean, I understand sibling rivalry, but this is ridiculous."

"The worst Ravannah and I get is fighting of the Xbox," he gestured towards a bruise on his upper right arm, "Those can be deadly, though."

Alex looked back at her brother. "He's had a stick up his ass the last couple days, more than usual."  
Simon chuckled. "Maybe it's the dead fish you threw up in his room."

Alex smiled sweetly and opened the door to the diner for the group. She winked at Jason. "Or maybe he figured out who poked holes in all his condoms. And thank you for the idea, Jase."

Ravannah's mouth pulled to the left to make a smile, "Yeah, well, we're all going to be in hell for the rest of the school year, lovelies. Better get used to it."

Jason inched into the booth next to her, before Gary could even get close enough. Reluctantly, Gary pulls out a chair from the connecting table, "Keep your hands off of my sister, MacTavish."

Jason raised an eyebrow and put an arm over Ravan's shoulders. "Technically, this is an arm, not a hand."


	2. Risky Business

**To clear up your question: Vlad and Alex are siblings, Vlad being older. Ravan and Gary are siblings, they twins. **

**Thank you for reviewing and here's the next chapter!**

**Ravannah belongs QuietAlias, who is not on fanfiction, but is on archiveofourown . org  
**

**OOOOOO**

Vlad sat at the island counter, staring at the doorway leading into the kitchen from the living room. Waiting for his bratty little sister to come walking in, so he could unleash what he's held in all day at school. Her embarrassing him like that and acting like she could ever take him. He gripped the knife in his hand tightly as he began to stab the space in between his fingers as a game, a game his mother and father repeatedly told him to stop playing on their expensive granite countertop. The loud thud of the door shutting caused him to look up, but not stop playing the game. "Welcome home, Alex."

Alex paused as she entered the kitchen and smiled a sickly sweet smile at him. "Oh it's just wonderful to see you ruining mom and dad's counter again." She walked over to the sink and stayed close to the knife holder. "Shouldn't you be at football practice or with the slut?

He grinned slightly, "Football practice doesn't start until late September, dumbass." He stood, throwing the knife into the wall above Alex, causing her to flinch slightly. "What the fuck were you, Ravan and those idiots doing this morning and where the fuck do you come off grabbing me like that?"

Alex glared at her brother and removed the knife from the wall above her. "Well, fucktard, I grabbed your arm so you didn't kill someone," she then placed the knife back in its holder and moved to the fridge to get something to drink. Her brother and his damn mood were going to kill her.

"And we were just messing around, what's wrong with that? It's not like you and your dumbass friends don't fuck around with each other."

"I wasn't going to kill anyone, I was just going put Ravan's fuckwit brother in his place," he said, nonchalantly, his fingers wrapping around an apple, leaning against the countertop.

Alex took a carton of orange juice from the fridge and leaned up against the island counter, looking her brother over with caution. He seemed a little more pissy than usual. "I could have easily done that for you almighty dumbass." She placed the carton on the counter behind her. "And I'm probably headin' over to Jason's tonight, if you don't mind." Her first thought was to stay the night with Simon, her boyfriend, but Jase had told her he needed her "help" with some issues.

Vlad's nose turned up at the name Jason, "What about Ravan? What will she being doing while you spend the night with Old McDonald?" He deamnor slightly changing as he took a bite out of his apple, his back tightened to stand him up right.

Alex smirked knowingly. "Oh I'm not sure. Ravan does a lot a stuff..."

"So, she has no plans with you?" His smile grew even bigger, "I suppose not with her shift at the Coffee Bean tonight, I suppose I could stop by. Keep her company since her friends are all going to be too busy for her." Fingers inching towards his keys while his teeth dig into the apple yet again, "I have nothing better to do, anyway."

Alex smiled at her brother and flicked a crumb off the island counter at him, hitting his stomach.

"I should never have told you when and where she works."

She knew about her brother's crush on Ravan, but she wouldn't dare tell anyone, not even Ravan herself. Her brother had practically choked her when she had overheard him talking to Yuri about it. If it hadn't been for Yuri, and her swearing to not tell a soul, she could very well be in the hospital rate now. It had occurred to her to tell Ravan, but not only did she feel awkward, but she didn't want Ravan to not come over.

"But bro, I really don't think that's a good idea. You're already a creep as it."

Vlad looped his finger through his car keys, "Not as creepy as you and your friends are. I'm sure she'll love spending time with someone of her maturity range. You and Jason have fun with whatever it is your doing, but my sweet-tooth is buzzing." He began his stride out of the room, the kind that would make you want to jump out of the way if he came towards you. "And I'm not talking about coffee helping my sweet-tooth, either."

Crude was not something Alex expected from her brother, and it honestly shocked her, and it scared her for what he might do. But Vlad wasn't _that _kind of person, at least, not that she knew of. "Vlad, don't you dare do anything to hurt her or I swear to god…"

**OoO**

Ravan watched a group of giggling cheerleaders made their way out of the door, the once bussling shop now fell silent. Which was very unsettling. For the moment, she pulled out her phone and for once, there was not a message from Jason waiting, but rather Gary. All it read was that he finally got his first MOAB on Ghosts. With a smile to herself, she sent back a thumbs up emote. Tucking it back in her pocket, she glanced about the eerily quiet coffee shop.

The tables usually full of classmates, or people with their laptops were barren. The scent of coffee wasn't fresh anymore, it smelt stale and old. All she could do was clean up, well, wipe down the tables. Before she could grab anything, she saw Joseph Allen and Paul Ramirez outside. Joseph's hand wrapped tightly around the door handle, but he didn't open it. They both were looking to their left and instead of walking in – they bolted. Faster than anything, Ravan had ever seen. She was expecting the shaking steps of a monster or the fire breath of a dragon by the look of their panicked faces. However, no, it was much worse. It was Vladimir Makarov.

When he entered, it was almost as if he sucked the heat out of the room. She had never been left alone with him before, and she was waiting for one of her friends to come running to save her. None of them were going to come; they were all off doing their own thing. Gary was at home, Jason and Simon were with Alex, John and Gareth were both at work as well. Andy and Gerald were at the gym. They made eye contact, his stare burning into her being. She cleared her throat,

"Welcome to the Coffee Bean, what may I get you?" Her voice noticeably shook.

Vlad was pleased when he entered the Coffee Bean and saw there was no one there. Though it was unusual, he suspected it was because he was there. On the bright side of things, to him, Ravan was waiting at the counter, looking a little fidgety. It was very un-Ravan like.

He sat at the counter in front of her and shoved his car keys into his pocket. He smiled, "Latte and something…" Vlad looked her over, not bothering to hide that he was doing so. "and something sweet, please, Ravan."

Ravan wasn't going to make the stupid mistake of asking what kind of latte he wanted. She made him a basic caramel latte, nothing too spectacular. Not wanting to give the impression of him being anything special to her. Anything she ever gave more than one thought to. She walked behind the display where all their treats were and gave him a regular special, just a giant peanut butter cookie with decadent chocolate inside. Sliding the items in front of him, she rung him up. "Seven dollars and twenty-five cents."

Vlad nodded and took out his wallet. He felt his phone going off and knew it was Alex, but chose to ignore her. Little brat thought she could tell him what he should and shouldn't do. There was a reason why Alex listened to him and not the other way around, besides him being older and bigger than her.

He gave her a ten and decided to try and make conversation, even if it meant talking about the group of friends she hung out with, anything to break an awkward atmosphere. "So, what are your friends doing tonight?"

While getting his change, she glanced at him. "Um… Gary's at home, not exactly sure about Simon and Jason, John and Gareth are working… And I think Andy and Gerald are at the gym. Just a regular Monday, I suppose." She held her hand out to him, his change staring him in the face.

Looking at his change, he moved a hand forward and held his hand out. "Hmm. _Jason _will be having Alex over tonight, as far as I know."

The tips of her fingers brushed against the rough skin of his palm as she placed his change, causing her hair to stand on end. In the five and half years she's known Alex, she has never, _ever _touched Vlad. It felt weirld. "Yeah, she told me about that," she muttered. Mindlessly, she began to stack some fallen over cups, knocked over from the rush that comes in every day, right after school.

Vlad felt goose bumps move up his arm as their skin brushed. It wasn't like Natalie, his current _girlfriend_. Natalie was a cruel, vile person, who cared about nothing but her popularity and being with a star athlete, although she was very pretty. Long, silk soft, curly blonde hair that was unusually soft under his fingers. For a moment it made him wonder what her hair felt like. And Ravan's eyes weren't cold like Natalie's – they were always kind and warm.

He let the change fall into his pocket and watched as she left to fix some cups a foot away from him. He took a sip of his latte and watched her move as she restacked the cups and lined them up neatly. He took another quick sip and moved from his seat towards her.

"You look like you could use some help with those." His hands moved to help her put the cups back, and accidentally grabbed her hand in the process. Instead of letting go, he held into her hand and the cup for a moment.

Her hand tensed up just enough to make the cup crinkle slightly under her fingers, making a faint crackle as the plastic was bent. She waited, waiting for Vlad to move his hand. But he didn't. He kept his fingers wrapped around her own, his fingers overlapping hers. Clearing her throat, she slowly pulled her hand away from his and stacked the now ever so crinkled cup. She watched as he finished stacking the cups, as she stood there in a daze. "Thank you, Vlad," she gently pushed the cups back against the wall.

Vlad gently smiled at her, most likely the nicest thing he had ever done. "You're welcome, Ravan."

His phone rang again, but he once again ignored it. If it was Alex, he'd kill her when he got home. If it was friend, he'd kill them tomorrow. "Happen to need help with anything else?"

Ravan shook her head while taking off her apron, revealing her emerald green low cut, long sleeved shirt. Placing it on the hook she looked back at him, "No, it's time for me to close up and walk home, but thank you for helping with the cups." As she made her way around the corner, turning off machines as she walked past them. She ended up standing in front of Vlad, him towering over her small stature. The shadow casting over her made her stomach tighten.

He knew Ravan would tell Alex anything that happened, but he couldn't help himself as he looked her over, letting his eyes wander. Alex sure knew how to pick girlfriends, guy friends and boyfriends, he couldn't agree on. But he could agree on Ravan.

Not being able to help himself, he stepped closer and locked eyes on her lips. How mad would Alex be? Or how mad would Ravan be? While he looked at her lips, he took out his keys. "If you'd like, I could give you a ride home. Wouldn't want anything to happen to you."

She wasn't sure if her friends would like her getting a ride home from Vlad, Alex she as hell wouldn't recommend it. But, she was tired and her legs were hurting. With a simple nod, "If it's not any trouble, I would appreciate it." Her hands placed on his arms to turn him around towards the door. The tips of her fingers against the middle of his back as she led him out of the shop. Forgetting who he was for a moment, she almost yanked her hand away. _Touching _someone who _hated _to be touched by anyone. She had him wait outside as she set the alarm, all the while she was kicking herself. Alex couldn't touch him, she sure as hell should've have. Simply locking the door, followed him to his car and climbed into the passenger seat.

As he observed her climbing into the passenger's seat, he put the keys into the ignition and brought the car to life. For a moment back there he thought she'd say no, but it was a happy surprise she had said yes to giving her a ride home.

He knew Alex would not be happy, but what was she going to do? He didn't want her nagging at him, so maybe it best if she didn't know. Though he doubted that would happen whether he asked Ravan to not tell her not. Everything was worth a try.  
Turning the headlights on, he turned to Ravan. "I'm going to need directions. And if you don't mind, I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell Alex I gave you a ride home." He wasn't afraid of his sister, but she had her moments when she could be just as scary as himself.

"Just drive down to the park, go right and turn on to Sacramento." She didn't even glance at him as she pulled out her phone. The name Baby-Brother across the screen, checking messages from him. "I'll let you know what house," her fingers rapidly replied to a couple of texts from different people.

Vlad followed her directions, occasionally glancing at her phone. He saw Baby-Brother, but didn't get a good glimpse of the others, other than some unanswered text messages from Alex. With Alex over at Jason's, the fucker was bound to know what was going on. The thought of Jason made his hands tighten on the steering wheel.

Trying to lighten his own mood and seem more talkative, he decided to try and start conversation. It wasn't something he was particularly good at. "So, what did you do this past weekend?"

"Jason, Gary, Andy and I all went to the Amusment Park down town," her face lit up in a way that was unfamiliar to him. "Then I went to go watch Gerald's boxing match with the rest on Sunday. He knows how to knock someone out, let me tell you that." She looked directly at him, a smile across her face and a twinkle in her eye from the excitement of the weekend. "What about you?"

He wasn't familiar with the feelings in her eyes or the ones that showed with her body language. He could recall a few times when Alex had been like that, but he never knew what it was about. He wasn't one to ask a personal question like that.

"Hmmm… Gerald is a good boxer. He'll make state for sure." He looked at Ravan and realized he had actually given a compliment to Gerald. He felt his face heat up from embarassment of the statement and looked away. "At least, that's what I've heard. I hung out with Yuri and company most of the weekend at my house, or Foleys. Went to the boxing matches on Sunday and that ends it."

"Sounds… fun, I suppose. I like going out and having fun. I mean, staying home is fun and all, but not all the time." Her eyes softened as she looked away, the excitement fled from her body. She forgot whom she had been talking to. She was talking to Vladimir, someone who couldn't understand a normal person's fun if he was a part of it. The tips of her fingers tapped against the top of her phone as the name Jason read across the screen. She took her time to answer it, but it wasn't rushed and she didn't have a huge smile on her face like most girls would have.

"Yeah, you, Alex, and your… gang seem to go out a lot. Every weekend it seems. Damn, I need to find out how she gets money out of our parents for everything."

He glanced at her and saw her smile had faded. That just wouldn't do. He liked her smile. "You should always be smiling, it makes you look…" He felt uncomfortable finishing that sentence. He wouldn't have even said anything like _that _to Natalie.

Her bright, harlequin green orbs glanced over to him. Was Alex's brother, Vladmir Makarov, about to compliment her? Was compliment even in his vocabulary? "Makes me look what?"

The look of disbelief on her face made the corner of his mouth inch up into a side smile. He wanted the finish, but it felt… weird. Not weird weird, but it just made him feel uncomfortable. If only Yuri could see him now. He could take on a two-hundred pound linebacker, but he couldn't compliment a girl.  
He was thankful it was dark so she couldn't see his reddened face. "It makes you look happy, perfect actually, and... more beautiful than… you usually are." There, he said it. He watched her from the corner of his eye, waiting for a reaction

A light smile formed on Ravan's full pale pink lips, a very content smile. "Thank you; it's the two-story at the end of the road." Her house stood up from the rest of the neighborhood because of her parents renovating. As the car pulled to a stop, she undid he seatbelt. She liked when Vlad acted like a human being, rather than some big brute. Like he had something to show off for the rest of the world. Her arms wrapped around the back of his neck as she pulled him into a deep hug, her mouth next to his ear. "I like talking to you when you're like this," her voice quiet, "it's really nice, actually."

Vlad felt a genuine smile spread across his face as she hugged him. He wrapped his arms around her as to return the gesture and put his lips on her ear, "May I walk you up to your house, or is that over stepping a boundary?" He had already overstepped all his boundaries tonight, so why not just break down the rest? Her brother should be asleep by now, so he didn't see a problem with it.

Ravan nodded only once as she got out of the passenger seat. As they walked up fancy tiled path that her mother spent an entire weekend putting in, it felt almost unreal. She didn't rush in right away like she would have if anything went any differently today. She looked up to see a different Vlad. Like Vlad was only at school, and then with her he was Vladimir. She never really took note of his different colored eyes, but they were gorgeous. With a smile, she hugged him again, this time differently. She wasn't tall enough to wrap her arms around his neck comfortably, so her arms wrapped around his middle. Her cheek placed against his chest. "Thank you for giving me a ride home."

He rewrapped his arms around her and since he was on a roll with breaking down boundaries tonight, he kissed the top of her head. It was such a strange gesture for him, and a strange feeling. But he had to admit, he liked it. Natalie never hugged him like this, or smiled at him like that.  
He hugged her a little tighter. "I'll be happy to give you a ride home anytime, Ravan."

Gary peered down at his sister and Vlad from his room, his eyes doubled in size. He took in a simple deep breath, pulled out his phone and flipped through his contacts. He kept himself calm, yeah, this was fine. Vlad kissed the top of her head, everything is okay. His sister wasn't dating him, it's alright. Everything will be okay, Simon will know what to do. The phone run three times before Simon answered. With another deep breath inhaled, he walked away from the window and into the farthest part of the house – the small bathroom. "RAVAN IS HUGGING THE DEVIL AND THE DEVIL KISSED THE TOP OF RAVAN'S HEAD!" His cries became hysterical.


	3. 13 Sins

**Alexandria belongs to me, Ravannah belongs to QuietAlias. John MacTavish is Jason MacTavish in this story because two John's got confusing.**

**OoO**

Alex sat on her black leather couch with Jason and listened as Simon tried to calm a hysterical Gary on the other end of the line from the kitchen. Even from there she could here is hysterical cries and the word "devil" repeatedly. What the fuck was he talking about? Maybe he had watched too many horror movies tonight and became paranoid. Alex did that a lot.

Simon was yelling at Gary, clearly agitated. She wondered what could be wrong. She looked at Jason and leaned on his shoulder as they resumed their game of Ghosts, which she was beating his ass at. After Simon calmed Gary down, things would go back to normal for the night. Or at least until her brother came home.

"Dude, it better be important."

Jason smiled and nudged her side. "You're just saying that because you want your spot back on your boo's lap." Alex slapped his arm playfully and flicked one of the joysticks on the xbox remote, instantly revealing his character to her scope and winning the game. "And that's how it's done, Jase."

He rolled his eyes. "Oh let us all bow down to the mighty and all powerful Alex."

"Yeah, almighty and powerful Alex with kick your ass." Alex glanced back at her phone as it went off. It was Ravan. Oh thank God she was alright. Her brother hadn't done anything stupid, or at least she hoped not.

Simon walked back into the room, his phone still pressed tightly against his ear. His right eyebrow rose while his left furrowed. "Gary, are you sure about it?" There was a loud noise from the phone, "Alright, um… I'll tell Alex, yeah? Alright, Gary. Just hide in your room. No, do not call an exorcist. No, do—JUST DON'T DO ANYTHING." His phone slid back into his pocket. "Apparently, Gary saw Ravan and Vlad getting very… familiar with each other."

Alex felt her mouth drop. Vlad he… no he wouldn't… would he? Alex's brother and her best friend… oh God. Oh God! She told her brother not to be stupid! He was a fucking asshole, who just so happened to be charming too.

She stared wide eyed at Simon as he raised an eyebrow at her. Now the word devil made sense. Now she was just offended. That made her the sister of the devil, which was actually an accurate description. But still… "What? Don't look at me like that. You two are looking at me like this is my fault!"

Simon's eye glanced over to Jason, a subtle look of hurt across his face. His hand released the Xbox controller and it made a _thunk _against the floor. "You alright, Jason?" he was hesitant to ask. Jason's eyes never moved from the floor in front of him, it was like everything around him had caved in at the thought of Ravan and Vlad actually being something.

Alex's eyes softened as she looked at Jason. She wrapped an arm around his shoulders, gently rubbing his back. "I really don't think Ravan would consider being with Vlad, Jase…" Should she tell them about how serious this crush on Ravan was? No. She couldn't risk Vlad finding out she told someone.

Jason rubbed his face. "It's just…"

She could visibly see how upset Jason was. She hated seeing him like this. "Jase, please? It's my brother for god's sake…" He still wouldn't speak.

Simon plopped down next to Alex, "Mate, Gary probably didn't see something right. I thought you asked Ravan out Friday." His orbs scanned over Jason's face, looking for something. Jason's eyebrows dipped further as he pulled away from Alex. "Mate… you did…. Didn't you?"

Jason looked away. "Well, I was going to… but then I got nervous and it just didn't go the right way."

Alex groaned and put her forehead against Jason's shoulder. "Dude, we rehearsed it like ten times. I've been talking to you for weeks about this. Have you been talking to him about this?" Alex looked at Simon.

"Well, yeah…" Simon glanced at Jason's phone. He picked it up, and his face lit up. "Ravan messaged you, mate! See? Everything is fine!" His giddy smile faded as he read over the text, "Um…. She said… that she has thirty unread text messages from you, 'lol'…" Alex's eyes darted over to him, and he looked down.

Alex continued to rub his back. She needed to send them home, but she couldn't while Jason was like this. Headlights came through the window and she seemed to be the only one to notice. There was no way in hell that Vlad would be back that fast.

She smiled at Jason. "Jase, don't give up. Just because my fucktard brother thinks he has a shot doesn't mean you should let yourself get down. Tomorrow or the next you need to ask her out before you lose the chance."

Jason looked up at her. "How can you be sure he hasn't asked her out?" Alex rolled her eyes and stood up, taking Jason's arm. "Because that's my brother and my best friend. If he asked her out tonight or any other time I'll castrate him. Now can you both go in the kitchen or upstairs for, like, five minutes?"

**OoO**

Ravan shut the door behind her softly, thinking her family was asleep. Her hand swung her backpack onto the chair beside the couch and she crept towards the stairs. Every other step, the damn things creeked. Turning directly to her right, she collapsed onto her bed. This night has been rather odd, first with Vlad and then Jason not messaging her back like he usually would. It was… off putting, in a way. She felt like she was being watched, and she sat up. Peeking through the crack of the door was matching harlequin orbs. "Baby-brother? What are you doing?" Her legs stretching out as she walked to the door. Hand pulling the door back, she looked at her brother's frantic face. Pale pink around his eyes, and streaks like he had been crying. "Gary, what happened to you? Did you watch_13 Sins _again?"

Gary wiped his eyes. "Oh I watched _13 Sins _alright! It was rate outside my bedroom window!"

Her right eyebrow rose, "What are you talking about, you weirdo? Do I need to get the pull out mattress so you can sleep in here tonight?"

Gary shook his head furiously. "Don't play stupid with me! I may be the baby brother but I am not stupid! The Devil was outside my window tonight with my sister!"

"Oh, Geez, Gary…" she sits down on her bed, "Vlad just gave me a ride home so I didn't walk home alone."

"You let him touch you! He kissed your head! _You _hugged him first! What the hell was that? 'Cause don't tell me it was just a ride home, Ravannah!"

"Look, Gary, he was being very nice to me and helped me a bit with my shift," her eyebrows furrowed, "nothing more than me hugging him happened. I didn't know he was going to kiss my head. What was I supposed to do? Push him a way so he can fuck with us tomorrow at school? Don't act like anything more happened, Gary Bryce Sanderson."

Gary's voice got very high pitched and squeaky. "Nice? Nice? Vladimir Makarov nice? That man or demon or whatever the hell he is is not nice! I'm pretty sure that word isn't even in his vocabulary!"

"Well he was to me!" She shouted in his face, "For once a guy isn't being wishy-washy. He was really sweet to me, and said I had a beautiful smile and he didn't fucking compliment other girls while talking to me!" Her voice holding hurt.

Gary placed a finger against her chest. "He's bad news! Look how many girls he's been through, like, everyone on the cheer team and then he passes them on to his friends! I don't want to see you end up being one of those girls!" He let his arms fall to his sides. "I'm just worried and I don't like him. Look at everything he does! He's an asshole Ravan! You've spent enough time over at Alex's to know that by now!"

"Do you think I'm stupid?" She pushed him, "Do you, B minus student, think that I'm stupid? I never said anything about dating him, Gary. And for you to think that I would _allow _myself to be _passed _around like is just fucking sickening. You, my own brother, my brother who shared a womb wth me, my brother who came from the same embryo really thinks that lowly of me?" Another push and he hits the wall. "I just thought it was nice for a guy to actually treat me nice for a moment. Because I can't expect it from anyone else. I can barely expect it from my own flesh and blood, apparently." She stared directly into his eyes. Their shared trait of a small fuse to a big temper showing as his eyes began to flair up too.

"That's how everything starts! First he's driving you home and hugging you, and the next you're wrapped around his arm as his girlfriend! I'm trying to point that out to you! So don't come crying to me later because I'm telling you rate now – stay away from him!" Gary picked up his phone. "And if you don't mind, I'm calling Alex because she's the only one who can help me understand why my sister got a ride home with a guy who has to be the most dangerous person at our school!"

"Oh, so next time I'll walk home from work alone, at night, Gary. You're such an idiot sometimes! You, my BROTHER, was supposed to be there five minutes before I had to close up to take me home. Where were you? Right, you were sitting on your ass, stuffing your face and playing a fucking game! Go cry to Alex, then. Next time you OD on horror movies, or dad yells at you, or someone makes fun of you at school – go to her."

"I will go to her! I'll go over to house and make sure that bastard never leaves the damn house, even if it means I have to die!" Gary turned on his heels and slammed Ravannah's door in her face. He was just trying to look out for her! Vlad was trouble! He had it written all over him, in big, black, bold letters. Look at me! I love getting into and causing trouble and going through all the girls in the school! He sighed and turned to her door, resting his head on it. Why did she always have to be difficult?

"Gary Sanderson!" Ravan opened the door and he stumbled into her. She sighed as her younger, taller brother wrapped his arms around her tightly, instead of trying to keep Vlad out, he was trying to keep her in. Her arms wrapped around him and they stood there for a moment. They rarely fought, but when they did – they both felt awful right after it. "Ry… I know you're watching out for me and I know you love me – I love you too, but sometimes you over-react just a bit." She looked up at him, "Just like I do." His hand rose to brush his bangs out of his face, "I'm not going to run off with Vlad if that's what you're thinking. I just thought it was a nice gesture, is all. I'm sorry for yelling at you, baby-brother…"

He sighed. "Okay, I'm sorry too. It's just… you know I don't like him, none of us do. And I love you so seeing him, you – it's still not going well in my head." He rested his chin on top of her head. "But I'm still calling Alex. I'm surprised she hasn't called already. I wonder what's got her busy?"

"Whatever has Jason busy too…" Ravan muttered.


	4. Love Sick

**Time seems to fly. I didn't even realize it's been this long since I posted to this story. But anyways: Thank your for the follows/favorites and thank you Prettyprincess45 for the review. **

**Alexandria belongs to me, Ravannah belongs to QuietAlias.**

**Chapters are getting longer, so bare with me. Enjoy :D**

**OoO**

Alex stood in front of the couch, looking at her unexpected guest. It was no Vlad, but it was much worse. She couldn't turn him away with the face he gave her or with the bruises on his neck. So she did the least she could do – she got an ice pack, a bottle of mountain dew, and a bag of cheetos. He made himself at home, laying his black leather jacket on the couch, and being polite enough to leave his boots in the hallway.

She would have rather had him show up when her boyfriend and one of her best friends wasn't upstairs, but she wasn't in control of that apparently. Talking to Yuri would have been a delight, but not with two of her gang in the house. There was a chance they'd over hear any nice conversation and she didn't want to explain her and Yuri's friendship.

"You need anything else, Yuri? Maybe a real meal? Or a new ice pack? That bruise is nasty. And I'm pretty sure it'll welt."

Yuri rubbed the dark purple marks on the left side of his neck, "No, this is more than I could ask you for, Alex. I'm used to scrapes and bruises, so I'll be completely fine…" His eyes trailed off, "How are you, though?" Voice lingering, like he knew something was amiss in Vlad's house.

She smiled at him. It had been awhile since she had been alone with Yuri, though technically she wasn't alone with him. She hadn't been alone with him since… since last year. "Good, I guess. School is good, social life is alright, home life is… well you know how it is." She relaxed a little bit and sat on the coffee table in front of him.

"What about you? How are you? How are you and your… parents?" Parents were an iffy subject for him, especially since she knew his father caused the marks on his neck. Although she knew the answer, she wanted to hear it from him. She could only hope Simon and Jason weren't listening in.

He looked at her, "Well, you know how it is," he just about mocked. His fingers pressed against the bruises once more, "I'm glad things are going good for you, though. Besides Vlad, of course, but we all know what he's like. Especially when Natallie starts running around again."

Alex rolled her eyes at Natalie's name. "Oh don't get me started on Natalie. That blonde bimbo just waltz's into my house like she owns the damn place. Sits on my brother's lap all clingy and shit, and orders me around. That girl just makes me want to rip every single one of her blonde hairs out of her head!" She groaned. "Do you feel me here, Yuri? I can't be the only one who finds that slut annoying!"

"Natalie is very abrasive and bossy… But I don't think Vlad is going to have her around much longer," he took a sip from his drink, "he's been talking about a new girl lately."

"And I think we both know who he's talking about. I don't like it, Yuri." Alex squirmed in her seat. She didn't like the thought of Ravan and her brother being a… couple. It just didn't sound right.

Yuri sat up right, "I don't really have a negative thought about it, besides what you and your friends would do," he set his drink down, "Ravan's a good girl and all, maybe she'll help Vlad stop acting as bad as he does, you know? Kind of like an angel in disguise type of thing. You helped me calm down a bit, don't you remember?"

Alex felt her face heat up and couldn't help herself as she hit his shoulder. She whisper/yelled at him, "Be quiet! I have Jason and Simon hiding somewhere in the house! What happened is supposed to be a secret, remember? Can you imagine the fuse Vlad would blow if he found out? Or my friends? I don't want that kind of attention and I'm pretty sure you want to live a bit longer!"

His eyes bore into her being, "I'm not the one hiding friends, or boyfriends in the house, Alex. I didn't know they were here, so I thought I could speak freely with the other secret holder." The headlights shined through the window yet again, the deep purple bruises being shown in an almost choking manner. As the front door opened, Vlad walked in. The weird part, he wasn't walking his normal stride. It seemed lighter, and you could almost see there was a smile on his face today. It sent a small chill up Yuri's spine.

Alex raised an eyebrow at her brother. "Well you look… happy?" Happy was something she'd never seen on Vlad. Maybe once, but it was hard to remember when.

That small, almost unnoticeable, smile on his face stunned her. "Oh, just had a good night is all."

She looked between Yuri and Vlad. This was _not _her brother. This was invasion of the body snatchers in full force, because he didn't even realize Yuri was in the living room with her. And he didn't make some snide comment like _"You know where I was." _or _"Where do you think I was?"_ It made her feel a tad uncomfortable.

"Look, don't take this the wrong way, but did you happen to smoke something tonight? Or take some sort of drugs?"

Vlad shrugged, a certain gleam in his eyes. "You could call it a drug." Alex just stared at her brother, stunned. She looked at Yuri and saw him the same way.

Yuri stood up to stand by Vlad, "Where did you go? Did you go watch the boxing match between Quincy and Gerald?" Scanning over his face, this was something he had never seen in the long time that he's known Vlad. He casually sniffed like he was going to sneeze, why did Vlad smell like a fresh Spring day laced with lime? He had smelt that before, but he couldn't place where. Maybe it was one of the cheerleaders.

Vlad shrugged and threw his jacket on the leather chair next to couch. "The Coffee Bean to see Ravan." It was as if Vlad finally realized Yuri was at his house. "And what are you doing here? I got your texts. You alright my friend?" To Alex, it sounded like he was trying to change the subject.

He shifted uneasily while looking at Vlad, "Yes, I am alright. By going to see Ravan, do you mean to see her to get coffee? Because you smell like a Spring day, my friend." He lifted up his jacket, "And," he sniffed once, "a female hair product. That seems more than just coffee, friend."

Vlad rolled his eyes at Yuri. "She needed a ride home. I didn't want the pretty little thing getting mugged or worse by walking home alone."

Alex leaned against the couch. If her brother was in such a good mood, maybe she could get away with some teasing. "Oh you're not telling the whole story, Vovka," Alex turned to Yuri with a smile. "he hugged her, say, twice, and kissed her head."

Then Alex raised an eyebrow at Yuri, about to ask how he knew what Spring day and lime smelled like, until she remembered that she and Ravan usually used the same hair products and perfume. She felt her face get red once again as Yuri looked over at her, like he knew what she was thinking about.

Vlad sat on the leather chair and took a mountain dew from the coffee table, apparently not going very far from his jacket. "Would you shut up Alex? Don't ruin my mood." But Alex just couldn't help herself and burst out laughing, and ended up needing to use Yuri as support. Oh this was just too funny for her! Her brother was starting to get defensive.

He glanced down at his arm as Alex crackled off, it felt good, but burned him inside. He was still a tad sore from the break-up, and remembered Alex not being okay with the whole Ravan/Vlad coupling. A smile tipped-toed its way across the face, "Vlad, it seems Alex is all giddy that you and Ravan seem to tolerate each other. So, if best comes to best, you and _Ravan_," he said that looking down at Alex so she'd hear it louder, "start dating, she shouldn't have any problem with it."

Alex immediately stopped laughing and looked at Vlad, who raised an eyebrow at her. "Yes, you seem to find this very funny. Wasn't it you who told me not to go?"

Her mouth dropped open at him. Oh she was screwed, and not with Vlad, at least, not yet. She'd deal with Yuri later. But Vlad's question/statement to her roused the boys in the house. She could hear them whispering at the top of the stairs from where she stood next to Yuri, and by the look on Vlad's face, he heard them too.

"Alex, what the fuck was that?" She glared up at Yuri. "Nothing, no one!"

Vlad wasn't so easily fooled. "Alex, who the fuck is in my house!?" She sighed. She didn't feel like fighting with him. She had already lost the first fight, and knew she'd lose this one. "You two can come out now." She tightened her grip on Yuri's arm, and smiled when he winced as her fingernails dug into his skin. Bastard.

Simon walked down the steps, but instead of walking completely through the doorway, he stopped. He put his hands against both sides, Jason reeling behind him. "It is a lovely night out tonight, isn't it? I mean a cool seventy-eight degrees, and a nice little wind chill. The sky clear of clouds and the moon full."

Jason pushed on his back, causing his abdomen to lead forward slightly, "Gerald won against Quincy, by the way. I think we should all go out and celebrate this wondrous occasion!"

Yuri looked weirdly at Simon, "You are a weird one, aren't you, friend? We know how the weather is, we all were outside tonight while you were kept in this house with Vlad's _little sister_." He glanced at Vlad, "Without Vlad even being here."

Simon's eyebrows furrowed, "Shut the fuck up, mate, you don't know anything. Jason was here the entire time."

"Rooms have doors, my friend… Rooms have doors…"

Before Simon could retort, Jason shoved him hard enough to make him stumble forward. He walked into the room, but didn't leave Simon's side. Simon looked over at his friend and then turned his attention back to Yuri. "Sorry, mate, I'm not some pervert who can't keep a girl because all he cares about is sex, you moron."

Vlad was on his feet in a second and at his sister's side in under two. If there was one thing that he hated the most, it was Alex having a boyfriend. He glared at her and she backed up against Yuri. "You invited _your_ _boyfriend _into _my house_ while I wasn't fucking here or without my fucking permission!? What the fuck did you do!?"

Her grip on Yuri's arm tightened. She needed to be saved, but she doubted any of them would come to her rescue. "We sat out here and played the Xbox! We didn't do anything!"

"They really didn't Vlad, I was here the entire time!"

Alex gaped at Jason. She had never _ever _heard Jason raise his voice around her brother. Jason looked shocked himself, and Vlad, he was more pissed than before. "And what the hell are you doing in my house? You and your friend have no business being here!" Vlad was infuriated that not only was Simon, Alex's boyfriend here, but Jason as well.

"Hey, let's all just calm down." Simon made a smoothing motion with his hand, "It's kind of late—"

"It's only eight thirty, you moron." Yuri spat.

"…It's kind of late, we're all a little tired. Let's not have anything rash happen," Simon grabbed Jason's arm, "You three seem to have a lot to talk about, Jason and I are going to go over to Gary's." He left Ravan's name out of this, hoping they'd be too infuriated to remember that Gary and Ravan are related. It's pretty difficult to forget, since they're the only twins their school.

"That's right, just run off like a little fairy," Yuri smiled, "Run, run, little boy."

"At least I don't get smacked around by my daddy," Simon growled back. Yuri pursed his lips for a moment, not saying anything more. For the moment.

Alex gaped at Simon. That was a low blow, especially for him, and he was going to leave her here. Alone. With Vlad and Yuri. But Simon had a point. "I think Simon's right. Let's all calm down before someone gets hurt." She glanced up at Yuri and gave him a reassuring squeeze on his wrist. She still cared about his life and knew that had to sting.

Even though Alex, Simon, and Jason had agreed to some peace, Vlad was not done. He had some twisted plan going on in his head, Alex could see it. "Oh, leaving so soon? Please stay a little longer." His voice was tense and angry.

Vlad took a menacing step forward at Simon and Jason. "Or you can both run out that door back to Jason's," then, Vlad looked at Jason. "Tell your friend Ravan hello for me tomorrow… or on second thought, I'll do it myself."

Simon watched as a vein in Jason's neck began to show, something that only happened when he was getting angry. "Or, how about you don't say hi to Ravan, we don't tell her you said hi, and we all stay in our groups. We don't want you in ours, and I'm sure people in your group don't want Ravan with yours." Ravan had been Simon's best friend since they were three, she, Gary and himself all grew up with each other, not meeting everyone else until middle school when their families moved together to get away from the bullying problem at their first school. He wasn't going to let Vlad move in on her, not in a million years. Neither was Gary, and that over-active, short fused, brother wasn't going to go down without a fight. Knowing damn well that Gary wouldn't last a minute with Vlad, it was time for Simon to stop hiding in the shadows of this. He wasn't sure how long he could last in a fight with Vlad himself, but a whole lot longer than Gary ever could.

Yuri pulled his wrist away from Alex, "How would you even know what his friends thought? You don't know us, so don't be putting words in our mouths, you fucker."

With a simple smirk, Simon retorted, "I know for a fact Foley doesn't like her because she kicked his ass in eighth grade. I know for a fact that Alexander doesn't like her because she's too bubbly. Maybe even too bubbly for Vlad, as a matter a fact. I mean, really, do you think all of you guys could deal with someone who's pretty much always happy, always eager and someone that would outshine all of your intelligences in a heartbeat? Do you really think you'd be able to handle that?"

Alex was lost, confused. She didn't know what to say or what to do. Simon was standing up to her brother and Yuri, she was in the shit house with Vlad and one wrong move from her he'd have her hide. Not to mention Yuri wasn't being much a help. For the first time in a long time, she wanted to cry, and she knew everyone could see her eyes getting watery. She never cried. Last time she cried was last year, when she broke up with Yuri. But the events before her were not under her control and one false move from anyone could lead into a brawl, one that may end with serious injury. She didn't want that to happen.

As Vlad went to speak, she grabbed his arm and twisted it around so he went to the couch. "Vlad, you shut the fuck up and stay on the fucking couch!" He was shocked at her outburst.

She moved to Simon next. "And Yuri's right! You don't know what the fuck goes on in their group or how they fucking think! And I'm not going to deal with your fucking mouth trying to start a damn fight!"

And then she looked at Jason. She couldn't yell at him. She was shaking with anger and hurt. "Both of you, please get the fuck out of my house!"

"This is my house, Alexandria!" Oh no Vlad did _not _call her Alexandria. She pointed a finger at him. "Don't make me call the Big Man!" Vlad's jaw clenched and he sat back down. If there was one person Vlad actually feared, it was the Big Man. It was always a last resort when they were left alone at home. This was the first time she had actually used it as a threat.

Simon's jaw tightened, "I'm going to protect someone who's like my little sister, someone who's treated me good all my life and someone who is close to my heart from your brother. The fact being that I _know_two of them don't like her should be enough of a reason," his eyes shot to Yuri, "And I love how you're going to defend him over me. I love that so dearly, Alex. I have the right to protect Ravan, so I'm going to do so. Even if you're not on my side with it." He walked towards the door, "Let's go Jason, we should get to sleep earlier to be able to walk with Gary and _Ravannah_like he wants us to."

Her own boyfriend just yelled at her. She watched him slam the door and leave with Jason. She made a bad move – she shouldn't have defended Yuri. But what about him? He made some bad choices. And he protected Ravan instead of her. She needed protecting from Vlad, and Simon wasn't going to protect her from him now.

She felt a tear slide down her cheek, and Vlad saw it. If he had one weakness, it was seeing his sister crying. And he knew it was his and Simon's fault, but he was going to blame it on that cocksucker. He took a step closer to her but she back up. "Please don't, Vlad. You've already done enough."

Vlad looked to Yuri for help. He'd never had to comfort his sister before. He could be an asshole to her and beat her up, but that's what a brother does, in his mind at least. When someone else messed with his sister though, it was a whole other story. "Alex…"

Alex shook her head and moved to the kitchen. "I'm calling mom!" She glanced at Yuri. She wasn't going to let him see her like this. She knew Simon and Ravan had known each other forever, but she thought that being his girlfriend, he'd protect her. Her tears wouldn't keep Vlad at bay for long.

Vlad watched his sister leave for the kitchen and ran a hand through his thick black hair. "Yuri, can you help me out here? What the fuck do I do? My mom is going to murder me!" If there was one thing in the entire earth he feared, it was the Big Man, or in a simpler name, his mother.

"I don't know how I could help with anything right now," Yuri tossed him his jacket, "You could stay the night over at my house." A light smile crossed his face, "You know… I live closer to Ravan and all that." Vlad nodded only once, slipping on his jacket. The two of them left the house, Vlad only glancing towards where Alex fled, before locking the door behind him.


	5. Decievers

**Thank you Prinzessin Mia for the review (here's your next update!) **

**Alexandria belongs to me, and Ravannah belongs to QuietAlias.**

**And thank ya'll for the follows/favorites! Here's Chapter 5 ! And I know the chapters are long, but bare with me. **

**OoO**

She was miserable, and that word didn't even cover half it. Alex had spent the entire night, or at least until midnight, talking to her mom and her case as an attorney. She discussed her problems some, but she didn't want her mom to worry about her. Her mom needed to stay focused on work.

And to make matters worse, her brother left her alone all night. She wanted to be left alone, but not alone in the house. She couldn't even remember when she went to sleep, or even if she went to sleep. She had a test today and needed to pass it, and to add onto her problems, she had to walk to school this morning. She almost got hit by a car for Christ's sake!

Alex sighed and adjusted her bag on her shoulder. She resorted to sweatpants for the day, since her brother didn't do the laundry last night, and it was his chore. The coffee in her hands made her feel a little better, but she was tired, upset, and just wanted to go home. Maybe after the test she would, because damn, she couldn't remember ever being this tired.

She sat down at the group table, since she did arrive a bit earlier than the others. She didn't even run into Ravan on the way to school. Her fingers drug across the top of the table, waiting for at least Ravan to show, so she could shed some light on what exactly happened last night with Vlad.

**OoO**

Ravan walked in between Simon and Gary on their way to school. It was so weird, she was used to walking to school alone and flipping Gary out of bed. She came down the steps this morning to see Gary, bright eyed and bushy tailed. While asking what he was up to and why he was up so early, he tossed her the usual energy drink she drank every morning. Then there was a knock at the door. As soon as it opened, Jason hugged her tightly – declaring good morning to her. Which was even more off, since Jason couldn't hug her without awkwardly wrapping his arms around her, and hugged her even more awkward than the set up to it. Simon stood behind him, smiling himself. Why was everyone acting so differently lately? First Vlad, and now this.

Gary ushered her out of the house, saying that now they could all walk to school this morning, together. She had seen Simon glare down the street, she wasn't sure of what. The only two things down that street that she knew about was Gareth, which wouldn't make any sense for him to be glaring at. Unless he hasn't given back a borrowed item from Simon, which _could_make him glare that way. The other thing down that street was Yuri, but he didn't really have any opinion on him. With a shrug, she felt her brother link his arm with hers to tug her towards the school. This morning has started very oddly. She looked back to see two figures far down the street, but the sun glared in her eyes – so she couldn't get a good look. "So, what's the special occasion for this escort to school, gentlemen?" Ravan looked at Jason, then to Simon and finally to Gary.

Jason smiled as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Just a couple friends walking to school together. What's wrong with that?"

Her face turned red slightly, he rarely ever touched her. Only to irritate Gary. "There's nothing wrong with that, only that you three are usually asleep because you go to bed so late." She looked over to Gary, waiting for him to say something about getting off her nuts, or to stop touching her. Something.

Gary debated on whether or not to yell at Jason. But it was either Jason or Vlad and he would much rather have Jason hugging his sister than Vlad. "Yeah, why were you guys up so early? It's not like you two." He knew Vlad was part of it, but the look on Simon's face said there was something else to this story.

Simon glanced back, it felt like they were being followed. "Well, we thought it'd be something to try. To wake up early for school, instead of inching in late."

Ravan tightened her ponytail, "If you guys say so," she rubbed her hands together. It was pretty cold this morning, but that's to be expected. This is when the temperature starts dropping here. She felt Jason's arm tighten around her shoulders when Simon whispered something to him. "What the hell are you two whispering about?"

Jason shook his head. "Simon is just being pissy this morning. He didn't want to get up early, even though it was _his _idea." He really couldn't come up with something better. Vlad and Yuri were right behind them, probably still fuming from last night's fight. What bothered him most about it though, Alex wasn't with them. Of course, he knew Vlad had probably gone over to Yuri's last night. It was closer to Ravan. The thought alone made his arm tighten around her.

If Vlad and Yuri weren't enough, he still was worried about Alex. He'd never seen Vlad, or Yuri, that mad before. And deep down a part of him wondered if Vlad had hurt her last night. It made his stomach churn. "Ravan, did Alex text you at all this morning?" He knew how suspicious that sounded, but he had to ask.

With that, Ravan stopped walking. She look at Gary and pushed him, "You told them, you little bug! You promised you didn't tell anyone!"

"I had to tell someone! What was I supposed to do? I didn't know what the hell is going on!" Gary looked at Jason. "Wait a second! Shouldn't it be, 'Ravan, did you text Alex this morning?' not the other way around! What's wrong with Alex?"

Jason put his hands up. "Woah! You're twisting things around Gary!" Jason turned to Ravan, trying to change the subject. He didn't really want to go into detail about last night. "And yes, Gary called Simon last night and told us both."

"I can't believe you, Gary!" She went to finish yelling at her flinching brother, but she tore her sight to look at Simon and Jason. "That's why you two are walking me to school. That's why you're actually pretending to be more interested in me, Jason. Just because you see someone else is," that really hurt Ravan. He only wanted to keep her away from Vlad, not because he actually felt anything for her. "What did you two _wonderful_people do to Alex last night, huh? She better be fine, or something bad is going to happen."

Simon felt his back hit a wall, "R-Ravan, it isn't like that. We fell–"

"Fell asleep? I'm so sure! You two were up late playing video games! I heard you three on headsets, you lying assholes!" This wasn't a yell, she actually screamed. You could hear her voice break at the end because of it. "First with my fucking brother lying straight to my face, and then you two lie straight to my face? What kind of friends does that? What kind of best friend does that? What kind of brother does that? How could you guys lie to me?!" Another scream.

"R-Ravan, we're sorry, but–" Simon grabbed Gary's arm and pulled him in front of him.

"I am so sick of this! Gary, you're my brother first, their friend second. You looked me right in the eyes and said you didn't tell anyone. Why didn't you just tell the truth?" Her eyes seemed like portals to the underworld at this point, "All three of you. That's all you had to do was tell the truth. I don't lie to you guys. I'm so fucking tired of all this shit, you guys lying, and then you all have the gall to pretend you want to walk me to school because you thought it'd be fun." She looked to Simon. "Or, because you're my brother and you love me." Now to Gary. "I'm so fucking glad you all are so fucking caring!" With that final scream, she saw Gary try to back into Simon.

"Woah now, let's not start a fight over here." Vlad came up behind Ravan and smiled. "First off, good morning Ravan," he turned his attention to Gary, Simon, and Jason. "Second – what the fuck did you three do to make her so damn angry!?" He knew _exactly_ why she was angry. She had been lied to. And damn, was she cute when she was angry.

All three of their eyebrows furrowed at Vlad, "This is none of your business, Vlad," Simon stepped beside Ravan, "get moving."

Gary stepped on her other side, and Jason stood behind her. Vlad only smirked slightly, and Ravan was still seething with anger. "Good morning, Vladimir." She said, calmly. She wasn't upset with him, so she wasn't going to take it out on him.

"Let's go," Simon's hand gripped on Ravan's upper arm tightly. Catching her off guard, making her flinch slightly. It didn't hurt, but she didn't expect it. Her feet drug for a second as they started to literally drag her to school. Well, at least away from Vlad. They knew Vlad wouldn't give up that easily.

When would they learn? Unluckily for them, he was in a fighting mood this morning. "So you two are just going to run off like little bitches? Well, one could expect that after last night. Tell me, did either of you stop to think to consider my sisters feelings?" He glared at Jason in Simon. Oh yes, he was still pissed about his sister crying, and over Simon fucking Riley!

"Yeah, I'm talking to you two, Simon, Jason. First you're assholes to my sister and now you've been caught lying to your friend Ravan. I don't really appreciate either offense."

Ravan pulled away from Simon to look at them, "What did you two do to Alex?"

Jason put his hands up, "I didn't do anything."

"Way to throw me under the bus, mate." Simon glared.

"Like you can really talk about loyalty right now," she growled, "What did you do?"

"There was a verbal fight between Vlad, Yuri and I. She tried to break it up, which I would've been fine with, other than," he pointed at Yuri, "She stood up for that little wanker instead of me."

"Because I'm a better person than you. At least I don't lie to my friends." Yuri crossed his arms, knowing that would burn him. His friends are everything to him.

"It wouldn't matter to your friends! You guys are a group of punks, liars and thieves!" Simon tried to jerk forward, but Jason stopped him. "I'm trying to protect my baby-sister from Vlad; all of this started because of him, anyway! So, let's go, Ravannah."

She looked at Simon, he rarely got angry and when he did – the whole world knew with that booming voice of his. Then she heard Vlad chuckling ever so lightly. "Simon, calm down…"

"Me? Calm down?" Simon towered over her, "What about you? Screaming at us like that. We lied once, so what. You're thinking about dancing with the devil. Don't you remember who he is, Ravan? The same guy who beat Jason and Gareth up every day in sixth grade? The same guy who physically and verbally abuses Alex on a daily basis? The same guy who shoved Gary into a locker, knowing he was claustrophobic and almost sent him to the hospital with the anxiety attack? The same exact fucking guy who has tortured us for years with his stupid minions."

"Why do you guys have to jump to conclusions all the time?" Ravan asked, anger still all over her face, almost as if a red aura could surround her at any moment. "You know what, you can't even blame him for this."

Her friends and even Yuri stood there in shock for a moment. "W-what are you talking about?" Gary stepped forward.

"All he did was hug me, after he gave me a ride home – when my _brother_ didn't remember to pick me up. When I didn't exist to you three last night, he was nice enough to give me a ride home. We've all done shit to each other, and it actually was really fucking nice of him to go out of his way for someone for a second. But no, you guys had to demonize it. You guys had to fly off the handle. Yeah, I hugged him after he gave me a ride home. So what? I hug a lot of people, and for some reason – this couldn't just be left at that. Instead, you three had to get all serious about it. Where were you last night, Jason? Someone who offered to walk me home. Then when I declined, he said he text me to check up on me. Where were you Simon? Someone who usually calls to make sure I got home alright. Right, you two were over with Alex and didn't have time to message me in the slightest. Thank you for all of this. All three of you."

Vlad stood there, actually shocked. He didn't actually think she'd stand up for him, let alone in front of her friends. He opened his mouth, trying to find something to say without making himself soft in front of her friends. Nothing came to mind.

"And thanks to you two as well, my sister spent the entire night crying! And you both know that girl never cries!" Although he wasn't home last night, he was positive she spent most of the night crying and didn't get much sleep. "And I don't like how you're treating Ravan right now. That's two women in _my _house you've offended." He glared at them, all of them a little shocked. It was hard to tell during this little spat. Oh yes, he did say in _his _house.

Ravan smacked her brother's hand away, "I'm going to go see if Alex is here yet, alone. You three can go off somewhere else so I can talk to her, and I need to get away from you for a bit." Without an answer she began stomping her way towards school. She only heard one set of footsteps following her, but when she turned to look, it was Vlad. At another glance, she saw Jason and Gary arguing with each other. Probably because the other one didn't pick her up or check on her. Simon and Yuri were yelling at each other too, but she couldn't really decide on what issue. Her body tightened as she felt his cologne wrap around her and invade her sense of smell. "Yes, Vlad?"

He smiled at her and began to walk with her. "Thank you, for defending me." He sighed. "And for sticking up for my sister. But never tell her I said that or that girl will smother me with hugs. She's a hugger, like you."

He glanced back at the fighting men. He was definitely the most mature out of all of them. But Yuri… well Yuri could be mature when he didn't have a bone to pick with someone. Vlad could only guess it was Simon's comment about Yuri's father last night.

Vlad looked back at Ravan. "And thank you, again. For both things. It can't be easy going against your friends."

"No problem, Vladimir." She sighed heavily, "I just wish they'd stop being assumers and I wish my brother would quit lying to me. This is, like, the three hundredth time this week. I don't know why he's been lying so much. Then Jason being an asshole like that…" her voice held more hurt than she would've liked to have shown at that moment. "I'm sorry my hug started all of this, I never thought it'd turn into this fight fest…"

Vlad chuckled. "I'm used to fight fest by now with Alex. It's a daily thing, you know," his eyebrows furrowed. "We don't like each other, but we never lie to each other. It's the straight up truth, most of the time. Except for last night."

He wasn't sure if he'd over step a boundary, but she looked upset, so he draped an arm over her shoulders. It was something he saw guys do to their girls when the girl was down. He only hoped she wouldn't back away.

Ravan's lip bottom lip started quivering, and it was something Vlad had never seen. Her breathing began to break as she tried to keep herself from falling apart. She didn't want to cry in front of Vlad, that was the last person she'd ever want to cry in front of. But she couldn't hold it in, she stopped walking. Her hands shot up to her face as she began to openly sob in front of him. Never in her life had Gary lied to her so much, never in the time she new Simon had he ever lied to her either. Jason acted like he had feelings for her just so Vlad would go away. Her cries were audible as she tried to calm herself down, knowing that he probably would just stand there or walk away.

What was he supposed to do? If he walked away, he was dick. He ran a hand through his hair and thought of what he'd do if he had been alone with Alex last night. Oh god this wasn't his thing. He couldn't just let her stand there and cry like that. He couldn't stand seeing her cry – it was like seeing Alex cry last night, except this time he had a chance to do something about it.

"Ravan…" He wrapped his arms around her and placed his head on top of hers. It felt… strange. He'd never really been there to comfort someone before, and when he had, he hadn't really done anything. He held her tighter as she cried. "Ravan, please don't cry…" Oh if only Yuri and the gang could see him now. They'd think he'd gone soft. Maybe he had become soft.

Her arms wrapped tightly around his middle as she cried onto his shirt. Through the pain she felt inside, she could still feel how weird this way. She can't remember time Vlad ever hugged anyone, not even Alex. She started to calm herself down so she could be able to breathe better as he held her. No one walked this way to school, and the group they left behind hasn't came yet. They probably took a different way to let her cool down. Once her breathing was as best as she could get it, she pulled her face away from his chest to stare at the noticeable water spot on his shirt. Her eyes then looked up into his, glassy and probably slightly red from crying. Face stained with tears. "Thank you, Vladimir…" her voice quiet and broken.

He smiled down at her. "Any time, Ravan." He kissed the top of her head like last night and smiled at her. In a way, he felt guilty.

Alex had probably balled her eyes out last night and it was his duty as the older brother to care for her and fight with her, whether it was against her or against someone else. But Alex was the least of his worries.

Ravan returned a smile before digging through her satchel and pulled out a couple of Kleenex. She wiped her face off, and stuck the tissue inside one of the unused pocket. She took the other two, and tried getting the tear stain off of his shirt, "I'm really sorry," she kind of laughed as he hand brushed the tissues up and down over his chest.

He chuckled. "Don't worry about it. Yuri probably has a spare for me to wear. It's no big deal, Ravan." He grabbed her wrist but didn't move it away from him. He could care less if Yuri was watching any exchange between them. Yuri could keep things from the others.

She looked at his fingers wrapped around her wrist, causing a light blush to spread across her face. Pulling her hand back, she quickly stuffed the tissue away, "Right, sorry." She felt like a creepy idiot. Her eyes glanced around, she felt so awkward. Embarrassed that she couldn't make the blushing going away, and with her pallid skin it was easily seen. While she had a porcelain like complexion, her brother got out more. So, he was noticeably tanner – little things like that made people question them being twins.

Vlad chuckled at the red in her face. He wouldn't embarrass her anymore rate now. Instead, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "How about we get to school? You need to talk to Alex, I need to talk to Alex – everyone needs to talk to Alex," he laughed. Alex hated being the center of attention. "And I need that shirt from Yuri."

As they got closer to the school, Ravan pulled out from his reach and stood a good distance away from him. This morning had already been filled to the brim with drama, and she needed a break. She jogged towards their normal table, sliding in across from Alex. "I heard you had a fun night last night." She pulled a wrapped cookie out of her satchel and tossed it to her.

Alex tried to hide her face, knowing her eyes were still probably a little red. She took the cookie and stared at it. "Oh it was an amazing party. Just my brother, Yuri, Simon, and Jason all under one roof. I had a blast." She took a bite of the cookie. "Just an amazingly fun time."

She glanced at Vlad as he walked over to his friends. For a moment, since she was still angry with him, she was tempted to yell at him. Actually, she wanted to yell at everyone, especially Yuri, Simon, and Vlad – Yuri for being stupid and not helping her out, Simon for leaving and not being there, and Vlad for being an asshole.

"How'd your night go?"

"Well, I'm sure Gary told you," Ravan looked back at Vlad. She sighed deeply, "My brother forgot to pick me up last night, and Jason never texted to check up on me. So, your brother was kind enough to give me a ride home, and for once he wasn't acting like a giant jackass. He walked me up to the door, and I'm hugger, you know that, and I gave him a hug for giving me a ride home. Little to my knowledge did I know he was going to kiss the top of my head. Then Gary apparently told you all, looked me straight in the face and said he didn't tell anyone. Then he and I got into a huge argument, and yeah. I had about as good of a night as you did."

Alex bit her lip. She wanted to tell Ravan that is was no coincidence that Vlad showed up at the Coffee Bean last night, but she didn't want another yelling match with her Vlad. "Yeah. I'm glad you only had Gary to deal with. I had world war three going on in my house. Remind to find a better hiding spot for guests who aren't supposed to be at my house."

She looked up at Ravan. "How was the gang this morning?"

Her eyes looked away as she felt them burn slightly, "This morning was fucking amazing. I wake up early, Gary's all ready to go. Simon and Jason come over to walk me to school, Jason puts his arm over my shoulders and they're all acting off. That's how I knew Gary had told them. I lost my temper will all three of them. Them lying straight to my face, and Jason being interested in me _just_ to chase your brother away really hurt me. Speaking of your brother, he and Yuri walked to school and ended up running into us… Then World War Three resumed…" she sniffled slightly.

Alex could only imagine. It was overwhelming, to be the center of such a problem, or what everyone seems to see as a problem. Of course she didn't want her brother and Ravan dating, but there was little she could do to stop it from happening. Yuri's encouragement didn't help either_._

"Vlad always shows up at the worst, and the best, times. Which was it this time? Worst or best time?" She raised a curious eyebrow at her friend.

"I'm not even really sure…" Her eyes caught a substitute. Alex watched as she jogged off to talk to her, and she returned. "Grab your shit, we're ditching."

Alex stared at her. "Dude, I can't! I have a test in like 2 hours!" She didn't want to take it, but if she missed it, her mom would kill her. "Why can't we just wait until I'm finished?"

Ravan shoved her bag to her, "I have the same test today, but that sub was for Mr. Richardson. He's at home 'sick' so the test isn't until tomorrow." Her eyes rolled knowing that 'sick' probably just meant he was hungover. "Now, let's go before everyone else shows up. We can just stay at my house eating, playing games and watching Netflix."

She'd probably get murdered by her brother and yelled at by her parents, but she grabbed her bag and books. "Dude, you had me at 'the test isn't until tomorrow'."


	6. It's Not Over

**Alexandria belongs to me, and Ravannah belongs to QuietAlias.**

**OoO**

Gary, Simon and Jason all stood around during lunch period – glancing around. Alex and Ravan have been missing all day, and no one knows where they are. Gary dialed his sister's number again, but it went straight to voicemail. "Great, my sister hates me. She's going to disown me, and deny that we're twins!"

Simon looked at him, "You can't… You can't really do that."

"And she hates you because you lied, and I'm a liar. I'm a dirty, dirty, dirty, liar! I feel so bad inside! Why did I do that?!"

"Dude, calm down…" Jason muttered.

"No, and now you'll never have chance at love with her. That stupid dream you had about you two getting married – gone, out the window in the breeze." Gary yelled loud enough for a couple of people to look over. Simon gripped his hand over his mouth, "she's going to elope with Vlad!" he cried, muffled.

Jason glared at Gary. "Can you be anymore louder? Do you want the entire school to hear you? Imagine how more pissed Ravan would be if she heard you saying that!" Sometimes, Gary just didn't think things through.

"And those two are not going to elope! As long as I'm alive, that'll never happen!" And he had a feeling Simon and Alex would agree with him. Or Alex would if she was here.

He pushed Simon away from him, "This is my fault. My sister will never love me again. All she's going to do is be all evil and obsessed with Vlad."

"I don't plan to corrupt her right off the back, but eh," Vlad stood directly behind him, "she might have it in her already, with that anger."

Yuri chuckled, "Yeah… Where's Alex?"

"Better yet, where's Ravan?" Vlad sneered at Jason.

"Why are you asking us? You were the last one to see her, _Vlad_. You should be the one answering the question and we should be the one's asking." Jason sneered back at him.

Simon narrowed his eyes at Yuri. "What makes you think you can even talk about _my _girlfriend, mate? It's none of your damn business where she's at." Gary was stuck between the table and Vlad, with really nowhere else to go. "Uh, Vlad… you're invading my space."

Yuri smiled very lightly, "I can talk about who I ever I wish."

"Well, according to you, Sanderson, I'm going to be your brother in law one day," Vlad grinned, "and Ravan will be so happy to be with someone who actually shows that he's interested in." His eyes trailed to Jason, "Not someone who lies to her face and hurts her. I'll be sure to drop an invite to our wedding somewhere near you guys."

Jason gripped the end of the table. He wanted the subject changed, but he needed to stand up for Ravan. "There isn't going to be a damn wedding between you two, _ever_. Once she gets her senses back she'd going to remember _who _and _what _you are. You might as well stop trying."

"And you will never, _ever_, be my brother in law! That wasn't for your ears!" Gary glared at him, finding the courage to stand up to Vlad for the second time today. "You two will never be getting married! Like our parents would ever allow it!"

"Hmm… Last I checked, I didn't say I was going to ask for a blessing," Vlad shrugged, "but that's fine." Vlad nudged Yuri.

"Yes, Vlad?"

"McTavvy here thinks that Ravan is going to go running into his arms, isn't that cute?"

"Or _Ri-Ri _here thinks that Alex is going to stick around forever with him."

Vlad chuckled. "Yes, _Ri-Ri_, do you really think my sister is going to be around you forever? Especially with how you treated her last night," he sighed and looked at Yuri, "Poor thing was balling her eyes out the _entire_ night. What a boyfriend you are, making a girl who never cries, cry."

Yuri narrowed his eyes at the group. "Oh, make it two women. I heard from a little birdy that another little woman had a fit this morning. And here I thought friends were supposed to keep each other happy, not make them cry."

Did these two ever know when to stop? Of course they didn't! Jason glared at them. "What would you two know about relationships and friendship anyways? Vlad has different slut every couple weeks and Yuri, I don't think I've ever seen you with a women!"

"I'm just a gentleman who doesn't kiss and tell," Yuri shrugged.

"But that's just it," Vlad's smile just didn't stop growing, "Maybe Ravan will _fix _me. You know, I didn't hear her objecting about the first or second time I kissed the top of her head," he usually would say anything about this, but he wanted to get them going. "Or when I held her after her supposed _Knight In Shining Armor _Jason here made her cry. Or when her best friend made her cry. Or when her flesh and blood made her cry. I don't even lie to Alex, so you know how low that is."

Simon wasn't going to stand there and watch. Alex was _his _girlfriend and Ravan was _his _best-friend. "You don't know Alex," He stood up and glared at Yuri, then he returned his attention to his problem – Vlad.

"And you sure as hell don't know Ravan. You think you two are going to end up together and it's going to be all flowers and chocolates? Well think again, _mate_. I can see rate through your disguise. I can see that you are just putting up this act to win her over, screw her, and then toss her away when you're done. You're only putting up such a strong act because you know she's too smart for what you probably rehearse every damn day. So let me tell you," Simon clenched and unclenched his hands, trying not to let his anger get the best of him. "I will not sit idly by and watch you hurt her. I will not watch you tear her down and then have us build her back up. So quit with the act, leave Ravan alone, and go fuck your slut."

Something that should have knocked the smile right off of Vlad's face, simply didn't. All it made him do was chuckle deep down in his throat as he adjusted the left strap to his backpack. "Simon, Simon, Simon… If only you and your two stooges knew anything of substance. You just won't admit that Ravan and I are actually compatible. Yes, she's little bubblier than me – but she has the same fire in her heart and soul as I do. The same torrent of rage swirling inside her being. You'd rather just convince yourself that we don't fit together because that's all you really have to protect her." Simon went to retort, but Vlad made a 'shush' gesture with his finger. "If you all wanted to protect her so badly, why was no one with her last night? Why was no one checking up on her last night? Better yet, after that one spilled the beans, did you two call to check? Or were you too mad that she thanked the only person there to make sure she got home safely?"

Yuri looked at Vlad, he rarely ever goes logical in arguments. It's usually just a lot of insults and name-calling, but this was different. His direction then went towards Simon, "Oh, I know more than you'd ever like to think. I mean, I am Vlad's best friend, and I am welcomed in his home."

Simon's eyebrows scrunched together. He was pissed, no furious with Vlad, but what was Yuri talking about? How could he possibly know Alex the way he does? The look on his face. First confident and then anxious as he finished. What the fuck was he hiding? He couldn't have been the only one to notice.

He leaned forward to Yuri. "And you – stay the fuck away from _my_ girlfriend."

Gary wished he had Ravan's temper or her mind rate now. He couldn't come up with something to say to Vlad. None of them checked up on her. He looked up at Jason, who looked just as he did – lost. He didn't want to admit they had lost, but what else was there to do? They couldn't just give up on Ravan. When the three of them needed them the most, they were nowhere to be seen. To make things worse, none of them had experience with this kind of argument. Insults, yes, but not whatever the hell this was.

With a simple turn, and a victorious smile on his face, he pulled his phone out. But he didn't walk away, instead in front of them, dialed a number. Gary's eyes tripled in size as he recognized the number. That was Ravan's number, his sister's number. How did he get her number? They watched as his finger pressed the call button. You could hear all three of their hearts pounding against their chest. "Ah, yes, Ravan." Their hearts collapsed, "Where are you? At home? Is Alex with you? I'll stop by after school. Bye." He glanced over his shoulder, "They ditched for the day." And walked off.

Yuri shrugged, he didn't even know how Vlad got Ravan's number, but he didn't care. It made him smile to see that huge look of defeat on their faces. Of course she was going to answer any of them after what they pulled this morning. "See you, _gentlemen_."

Simon glared after Yuri and Vlad. "Have I ever told you two how much I want to shove that fuckers head down a wood chipper?"

Jason sighed. "Or acid? Make him suffer."

Gary sighed. "I'm a terrible brother! I let him win! Why did we let him win?"

"He may have won the battle," Simon yanked his backpack over his shoulders, "but he's far from winning the war. After school, we gotta get to Gary's house first. We have to protect Ravan from Vlad." He began walking to their only shared period, English. "Make sure the little fuck Yuri stays far, far away from _my_ Alex."

Gary nodded quickly, "He's not putting his hands on my sister!"

Jason walked along side them, "Yeah, there's no way we'll let him win. No way."

**OoO**

Alex sat with Ravan on the small couch in Ravan's room, curled up under a blanket and scrolling through movies to watch like they had been since they got here. She was happy to be warm and cozy instead of at school, where it happened to be abnormally cold, to her at least. And with being here, she didn't have to face the rest of the gang until tomorrow.

Looking over at Ravan, she was happy to know she was feeling a little better. Ravan had explained in more detail what had happened last night and this morning to her, and Alex couldn't believe her brothers audacity in confronting Ravan, Simon, Gary, and Jason in broad daylight. She knew her brother was confident, but this kind of confident was new to her. He was pushing limits, limits that shouldn't be pushed.

Alex brushed her overly long black bangs out of face and sighed. "So, what do you plan on doing about this, Ravan?"

Ravan glanced over at her, an emerald shining with the sun light seeping into the room. Her eyebrows furrowed as her face bore a look that she and Gary shared. She wasn't really sure what to do, she had a chair underneath the door handle to let her know when someone was trying to get in. Ever since her dad caught Jason here at nine at night, outside with her on the swing – she had lost lock privileges. Not like anything even remotely happened. She had no idea on what she was going to do, she _lived _with Gary – someone that was a big part of the issue. Not only that, she could only ignore Simon, someone who only lived a door down from her, for so long. "I'm not even sure where to start. Probably with Gary for making this whole thing bigger than it needed to be. Given, your brother is a bit of an asshole, I can't recall him ever being nasty to me. Other when he insulted us as a group, but he'd always look at me like he was apologizing for a split second." She sat up, wrapped her fluffy comforter around her being, "Your brother is one complicated dude."

Alex bit her lip. If only Ravan knew about Vlad's little crush that wasn't so little. Though she suspected Ravan was aware of Vlad's affection for her, Alex wasn't going to divulge anything Vlad had said about Ravan or how he knew where and when she worked. And if Simon, Gary, and Jason knew she had been the one to tell him! Oh she'd be under the bus for sure.

She cracked a smile at Ravan, trying to push her guilty thoughts away. "You're telling me and he's my brother! I've known him my entire life and he's still confusing and complicated! Especially lately. He's been… well, I don't know how to explain it. Ever since this school year started he's been weirder than usual."

"This whole year has been weird," she heard the front door slam and three sets of footsteps come running up the stairs. "Great." She counted down on her fingers, _three, two, one, _\- SLAM. Probably noting that Gary just slammed face first into the door. "Go away,_ Bryce_!" She shouted, knowing damn well that he hated that.

With another slam, Gary stormed into the room and tripped over the chair, "Don't call me Bryce, Ravannah!" He bellowed from the floor, scrambling to his feet. "I'M TELLING DAD YOU'RE GIVING YOUR NUMBER TO BOYS!"

She pinched the bridge of her nose, "I didn't give Vlad my number. I'm actually unsure of how he got it. I figured he creeped on Alex's phone or something."

"You are in so much trouble!" He flailed, "I'm going to tell mom, and then mom is going to tell dad and then—"

"Dad will not only erase every guy's number, including Jason, Simon, Gerald, Garth, Andy and John and ground me, but he will ground you for _letting _me."

"I never saw you give Vlad your number!"

Ravan stood up, "Daddy, Gary said it'd be okay if I gave my number to Vladimir, he said that he wouldn't tell." She said ever so sweetly, before shoving him. "You'll be in just as much trouble as I'll be."

Alex smiled sweetly at Gary. "And since your dad loves me so much, I'll be happy to tell him the same story, and you know he'll believe me. I'm a great liar." If there was one thing she learned from her brother, it was how to lie. Lying 101 with Vlad was her summer course.

Jason entered next. "Dude, how did he get your number? That's just fucking creepy."

Ravan glanced over Jason as he stood unbearably close to her, his arm brushing against her. She cleared her throat, "I'm actually not sure. I never gave it to him, he never even asked."

Gary's lip pouted, "That's not even fair—"

"No, what's not even fair is my brother and two closest friends acting the way they've been acting in the past twenty-four hours. Like itty bitty children, and frankly, it's pretty fucking annoying."

Simon sighed. "Ravan, we're just trying to look out for you! He's no good for you, for anyone!" He glanced over at Alex and saw a hint of hurt on her face. It was Vladimir Makarov for gods sake, not some damn princess fairy!

Alex stood and put her hands on her hips. "Could we all just let it go? He hugged her, he kissed her head – big fucking whoop! What happened in the past is in the past, so can please just move on with our lives?"

"How could you say that? You know better than anyone how your brother is! There's no way in hell you're okay with this!" Jason stood there, exasperated. Was she really just okay with this?

Ravan placed her hand on Gary's shoulder, "I know all of you are just trying to protect me from the _big bad monster under the bed_, but I'm old enough, and get better grades than you three to know what's bad for me. I can plainly see what he is, but you want to know something. Vlad has never been rude to me on his own, and he's the only male I'm forced to be contact with who hasn't directly hurt me." Her arms crossed tightly over her chest, "So, can we all just please let everything go?"

With a look of defeat, Gary nodded only once, "Maybe…"

There was a light knock at the door, making them all turn to see who it was. Gary stared wide eyed and furious. "MAYBE NOT!" Vlad and Yuri stood in the doorway of the room, watching with amusement.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE!?"

Alex raised an eyebrow at her brother. He just reached a whole new level of crazy. Yuri sent her look, one that said he tried to stop him. He apparently failed.

Vlad looked around the room until his eyes landed on Ravan. "I hope I'm not interrupting. The front door was unlocked and I heard some yelling," he smiled at her, "I would have stayed down, but it sounded serious – needed to make sure you were alright."

"Everything's fine, Vladimir," Ravan said softly. Gary fell to the ground at the sound of his sister using his full name. She nudged him with her foot, "They're just being their usual selves is all."

"Apparently, their usual selves require a lot of yelling," Yuri acted as if he was jotting down notes. "How does this all make you feel?" His stuck his pen in front of Simon's face, acting to be a news reporter. This gaining a small chuckle from Vlad, until his sight went straight to Alex.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Well, won't mom and dad _love_ to hear this? Pretty little princess took the day off and didn't tell them. Mom and daddy won't be pleased."

Alex sneered at her brother. "Oh go screw yourself! This is _my _zone, _my_ personal life! And you seem to be interfering in it a lot lately! Now get out with your friend and go home like a good boy! I'm done with you for the day!"

"Grow up! You have to come home today because mom and dad will be there! And I'll be damn sure to tell them you ditched!"

Simon grabbed the pen between his fingers and moved it out of his face. Yuri had a good inch or two on him, but that didn't mean he wouldn't hit him if he kept being an annoying little shit. "Get the fuck out, both of you. You're not wanted here."

Yuri yanked his pen back, "Can't take a little joke, Ri-Ri?"

Gary joined Simon's side, "Get out of my house before I call the police! My dad's the chief, and won't want some little hoods hanging around his daughter!"

"Oh, bite me, Sanderson."

"Mark a spot!"

Jason stood by his friends, "Feelin' froggy, Yuri? Then leap."

As everyone started bickering with each other, Ravan tried to defuse the entire situation. She placed a hand gently against Vlad's upper arm as she looked at his face. Caught off guard he looked back down at her, Alex being the only one to notice at first. His eyes scanned down her freshly painted neon green nails, down her fingers – the index having the silhouette of a bird on the ring – and down her arm until his eyes finally landed on hers. "Look, Vladimir," she waited to be corrected, but he didn't do it before, why now? She stood a bit closer to him, "The ditching was my idea. Alex and I have had a rough twenty-four hours lately, and the test we were going to take was moved to tomorrow. So, I figured she and I, already having straight A's, could just get away from school for awhile." Her fingers inched up and down his upper arm.

Gary went to retort, but Simon silenced him. Knowing full well that Ravan was just getting Alex out of trouble. He couldn't go an entire week, knowing that's how long she's usually grounded for, without seeing her. His friend looked up at him, kind of getting the hint.

Vlad's sapphire and emerald eyes trailed over Ravan's face. He took a glance at Alex. "Hmm… I guess the offense could be… excused, for now." Alex smiled. Vlad returned his gaze to Ravan and gave a small smile. He was finding it a little hard to concentrate with her fingers moving along his arm and he knew she was doing it on purpose.

He looked at her fingers as they moved along his arm. "You're distracting me."

Alex cracked a small smile at her brother, deep in thought. It was actually kind of cute – Vlad, the big bad wolf, left with no insults. She looked over at Yuri, who met her gaze. Speechless and distracted Vlad was quite funny to them both. When a man who is nothing but rude, crude, and a complete asshole all the time is star struck, it was funny to see. And the best part to Alex? It was in front of a group of people he hated. Oh she was going to tease him about this for _years_.


	7. Somethin' Bad

**So much for my posting once a week thing. If my laptop decides to behave, I will try to post another chapter before the week is over. But here's Chapter 6! Thank you for the review, it's much appreciated. **

**On a side note, Ravan does**** NOT**** belong to me. She belongs to my friend Lara, not me.**

**OoO**

It was late out, though he had forgotten how late. The wind blew slightly and the temperature had dropped. It was a rather cold night and the nights would only get colder. He asked himself why he had picked the park of all places to meet Ravan, and reminded himself it was the only place that was always deserted at this hour.

While he waited, he glanced around at the sky and thought. Not much had changed, yet everything felt so different. He knew it was because of Ravan. Yuri was the only one who knew of his friends about what had been going on, and he regretted letting his best friend in on the secret. Bastard wouldn't shut up about it when they were alone.

The more he thought about his "little crush", the more he wondered how it would affect his social life from here on out. Things were going well and he knew they'd only get better from his sisters spying. If only her friends knew of her espionage on them. Every day she willingly reported back to him on the day's events, as if she wanted the two of them to be together. It was hard for him to believe, but he was glad to have his sister in his arsenal, despite his dislike for her. She could be very useful. And he was happy to have someone other than Yuri on board with him dating Ravan, though he had yet to ask her out properly.

The thought of having to ask a girl out in a good way suddenly bothered him. This wasn't Natalie, who had yet to hear the news, or another girl he went through every couple weeks – this was Ravan, a girl who had respect for herself and put herself in a high place. He stood there, looking at the sky, dumbfounded. Would Alex know how to ask a girl out? He sure as hell wasn't going to ask Yuri. He was already teased enough as it is.

Hearing footsteps, he tore his gaze from the sky and smiled as the small figure came into the lights around the park. "And here I thought you got lost, Ravan. Hard time getting out of the house?"

Ravan smiled lightly as she sat on top of the table next to him, rather than just sitting on the bench. "Gary was playing solider outside of my bedroom door. Finally had to tell dad that he was getting a C in math so he'd send him to bed, or to study. But I suppose next time if I'm running a bit late, I'll just drop you a text baring just a 'never mind'." Her hand playfully ruffled his slightly tousled black hair.

He gently nudged her leg with his arm. "If you did that I'd just come over to your house. How is mister Gary Sanderson? Is he taking _this _any better?" Though he already knew the answer, he still wanted to hear it. He liked to know he was getting under Gary's skin more than usual.

"I'm actually unsure of how he's taking anything. Jason hasn't texted me in days, though." She slid down off the table to sit next to him, her arm hooking under his from losing her balance. She sat up right, pulling her arm to her side. _Wow, balance much? _Her smile hid her thought, "Gary'll probably always be up in arms about something I'm doing. I understand he's my brother and everything, but he must have the stomach lining of a sixty year old with how much he stresses over things."

Vlad chuckled at her and wrapped an arm over her shoulders. "Eh, brothers will be brothers, just as sisters will be sisters. Alex has been one protective bitch this past week. I can't set one foot outside the front door without her asking me where I'm going and what my plans are. The girl is like a mother hen!" He threw his head back and sighed. His sister's behavior bothered him. She was not his mother and he didn't need her acting like his mother either. He was 17 years old and didn't need the protection of his bratty little sister, only her advice.

She nuzzled closer under his arm as the wind bit at her face, "Some siblings need to take a break. I don't pester Gary all the time, but he wants to be in every bit of my business. Which he doesn't need to be. Then Simon is like another brother, I'm always finding his nose in places it doesn't belong, either." She let out a huff, "I just want everyone to back out my business from time to time and not treat me like I'm an idiot. I get better grades than them, and I'm not one of the two who had to go get treated for burn wounds for playing with fireworks when they were twelve. So, I think I can think for myself just a bit."

It was good to have someone who understood the sibling problem. Yuri was an only child, but he had other problems he wasn't too talkative about. Vlad didn't blame him. "Your friends shouldn't be telling you what to do. Siblings can, friends cannot but will anyways." He looked back up at the sky. "But I guess they just worry. I worry about you to ya know." He nuzzled her head affectionately, an act that Natalie didn't let him do.

"Yes, I know." She glanced around the deserted park. It was so weird to be here this late at night; usually this park was full of children. Sometimes full of teenagers right after school let out. Teens hanging out with people they shouldn't be, but Ravan wasn't too far off from that being her scenario. She placed her hand on top of Vlad's where it was resting on the table. "And don't think just because you think you're all big and bad that I don't worry about you. There's always going to be someone bigger and badder, and I really don't want you to get hurt."

He snorted. Like anyone at the school could take him down. He went to the gym every Saturday with his friends, kickboxing and weightlifting mostly – no one was going to fuck with him, and if they did, he sure as hell wasn't losing. "Ravan, there is no one in the school who would mess with all of this," he gestured to himself, a smile on his face, "besides my friends and maybe Simon, definitely Alex, and of course, you."

Vlad did appreciate that she worried about him, but he was a big boy. "But thank you, for worrying. I wish you wouldn't, but I'm glad to know you think about me and my safety." A teasing smile crossed his features as he watched at her.

Her eyes scanned over his face, chuckling a bit at his arrogance. She rubbed the back of his hand with her thumb, fingers half entwined with his. "I don't mean just our school," she glanced off, "bigger people…" She waited for him to get defensive, but all he did was tighten his grip on her hand. The thought of Vlad ever being scared, or ever being seen as weak was unheard of. Sometimes she forgot herself, even though she witnessed it firsthand. She placed her head against his shoulder, "I never hated you like my friends do, even though it's been said by multiple people other than me. I just don't like the things you do…" her harlequin pools glanced off, "_Milaya."_

His jaw tensed. It had been a long time since _anyone_, especially Ravan, had called him that. A childhood nickname meaning "sweet", it brought back memories he had only entrusted to Yuri and occasionally his sister. It reminded him of a darker time in his life, one that still stuck with him, and Alex, to the day. It was one only a select people knew about. Five people to be exact.

He rubbed over her knuckles, an act that was meant more to soothe himself more than anything. "It's been a long time since you've called me that. A really long time."

Ravan lightly smiled, watching his thumb tracing over her hand. "It's been a really long time since I've been able to talk to you without you chewing out someone." It felt like she was part of some secret club when she was alone with Vlad. He treated her better than he treated anyone else – that she's seen. He didn't belittle her, he acted like a normal human being. She scooted closer to him, until her ribs were touching his. Her other hand reached up to push his hair up slightly, like he had done for years. The tips of her fingers twiddling a few pieces of hair between her index finger and thumb. Without actually thinking, she placed her lips against his cheek for a moment, before retracting back to her original position. "It's nice, actually."

Vlad hoped she wasn't seeing the red coming to his face, but he knew she had. He put his forehead against the side of her head and relaxed. He wasn't going to let some problem in the past ruin the present for him rate now. "It does feel nice. No yelling, no insults – just talking." Talking had been something he hadn't done in awhile. And frankly, it felt good to just talk to someone.

"No groups, no tension, no stress." She snuggled against his chest. It really was nice, nothing in the air. No thoughts of him hating him, or her hating her – anything like that was no where to be found. Didn't have to worry about grades, didn't have to worry about friends. She let his cologne wrap around her as she cuddled closer to him. The cool night with the moon lighting up the sky – this almost didn't feel real. Snuggling closer, she felt his facial hair brush against her soft skin, leaving signs of irritation slightly on her pallid complexion. "This is probably the most relaxed I've been since eighth grade." Her voice soft and content.

He glanced down at her and then closed his eyes, relaxing in the cool night air. It was cold, but it was now bearable to him with Ravan's warmth spreading through his body. It was clear to him now that there was a difference between being comfortable with his friends and being comfortable with a girl, which had only happened with Alex, and it was never to this extent.

Vlad held her tighter, feeling protective. He was making her feel relaxed, not anyone else. And he was thankful for it, to have someone who trusted him enough to be like this around him. "Thank you, Ravan, for everything."

Ravan looked up, which caused Vlad to move his head. She let herself stare into his eyes for a brief moment, the mismatched orbs staring right back at her. Her lips pulled slightly to make a small smile, making her blush when he returned it. Why couldn't everyone see this side of Vlad? The side that really cares about her. The side where he treats her really well, sometimes even better than they treat her at points. She gently drug the tips of her fingers down his jaw line, stopping at his chin. A part from the arguing with Gary, this had probably been one of the best nights she's had in ages. Her hand cupped the side of his face, something that he wasn't used to by his reaction. Inching forward, she pulled him towards her for their lips to meet. The moment they touched it sent this small jolt of energy though her. Each moment that passed made the kiss deeper, until it lost all trace of shock – shock being replaced with passion.

Vlad attempted to gather his thoughts, but he couldn't – everything was a jumbled mess, except _this_. Tonight he had expected to talk to her, ask her out in his own way even, and if he was lucky, do this. Luck was apparently on his side tonight. This wasn't Natalie or a whore – this was a respected girl at their school, Ravan to be specific.

And hell, if this was his lucky night, he sure as hell didn't want this to end. It might all be some cruel dream, and if that was the case, he didn't want to wake up.

She pulled her face away to look him in the face, which was covered with confusion and something else she couldn't quite place. With a small giggle she smiled at him, embracing him into a tight hug. That felt better than she could've ever hoped. She might even dare say it felt better than her first kiss with Jason in eighth grade. This time she knew he was interested, and didn't just want his first kiss to be something he messed up. Vlad actually was interested in her, and there wasn't a doubt about it. They just sat there, holding each other for quite some time.

**OoO**

Cornflower blue eyes peered at the two supposed lovers in his head, holding each other – caressing each other. Tighter than anyone would ever think Ravan to be with anyone. Besides that moron Jason, that is. They made sure their flash was turned off on their phone, the moon being enough light for the world to see this ugly truth. Goodie Two Shoes Ravannah Sanderson is having some sort of secret relationship with the worst person in their school, Vladimir Makarov. _This_. This was something too good to pass up. If her friends ever knew about this, they'd probably maul Vlad. Which is what they wanted. Vlad to be struck down as far as humanely possible. Their thumb clicked a couple of pictures, but they already knew which ones were going to be used. The _one_. Ravannah and Vlad locking lips, tangled close together in secret, under the daring moonlight. Oh, how the school paper will _**love **_this.


	8. The Smoking Gun

**This is really late, a lot later than I meant it to be. I've been sick lately and just Monday I got my tonsils taken out, so I've mostly been sleeping and not paying attention to my laptop. Also, this stories title and summary has been updated because I did not like the previous summary. I'm terrible with summaries.**

**But, thank you PFC. Awesomeness for the review, everyone is seeming to like Ravan/Vladimir, and that makes me and my partner happy! Also, thank you to those who have followed/favored this story as well! I will start updating regularly again by the end of next week. **

**Ravan does not belong to me, she belongs to Quiet Alias, who is not on fanfiction, and Alex belongs to me. In case it has been forgotten, John MacTavish is Jason MacTavish, since two John's was confusing.**

**OoO**

Ravan walked next to Gary as they both approached the school, running late because their power went off at some point last night and screwed up their alarm clocks. She watched as her brother's eyes shot left and right, probably looking for Vlad and Yuri. But then his eyes shot to her, "Where were you last night, Ravan?"

"In bed, asleep. Why?" Her eyes locking with his.

"Because I kept knocking on the airvent between our rooms to talk to you and you never answered."

"Like I said, I was asleep."

He shoved his hands in his pockets, "Jason was texting me last night about you, you know?"

"Oh?"

"Yeah, wanting me to ask you out for him. Big bad football man can't even ask out a girl, isn't that funny?"

Ravan hid the discomfort of their conversation with a small, subtle laugh. "That is pretty funny."

"So, what do I tell him?"

"What do you mean?"

Gary looked over at her again, "He wants to take you out, what do I tell him? Yes or no?"

"No," her eyebrows furrowed, "if he wants to be a big boy and ask me himself, then that's good. But I will not have my brother be some sort of sick messenger."

"Understandable." Quickly ending their conversation before getting within earshot of their normal table. Why was everyone looking at them? He guessed it's really out of character for Ravan to be late to school, but he never thought it was this out of place. The two of them sat down, still feeling the classmates' eyes burn into their backs. "Mornin'."

"Morning," Jason grinned sliding in next to Ravan.

"Morning…" Ravan glanced around again, "what's everyone's deal today?"

Alex shrugged, holding her coffee close to keep warm. "Not sure. I've been getting that same damn look all morning. And let me tell you – I am _not _in the mood today." In an attempt to calm herself down, she grabbed Simon's hand and ran her thumb over his knuckles – a shared trait of her and her brother.

Speaking of the devil, he was late, or close to it. His black Dodge Charger, a present from their father for his sixteenth birthday, was not in its parking spot. Maybe her parents would buy her a car, if she used the guilt trip as Vlad had. But she wasn't like that – she wasn't going to use the past to get a damn car.

Jason looked around at his fellow students. "Well it has to do with someone at this table, because all eyes are over here."

Ravan glanced at Gary, "You didn't get caught doing something to the Principal again, did you?"

"No," his defensive, "I only do stuff to him when he's not on school grounds."

"Simon, you and Gareth didn't fuck with the computers again, right?"

Simon shook his head, "Not since last time, my parents demoted my computer to a dinky little laptop with the screen of a tablet," his body shuddered at the thought of that detestable summer.

"Maybe it's because Alex and I ditched." She glanced out to the parking lot to see Yuri and Vlad get out. Her face heated up slightly, but not enough to show any blushing. As they walked through the front gate, the whispering picked up quickly.

"Maybe Yuri and Vlad did something, and because Alex is related – they're thinking she's going to snitch out something." Gary muttered, his voice defensive.

All Alex could do was shake her head as her brother and Yuri approached the school. What the hell did her Vovka do last night that was so unbelievable? Over the years she had witnessed him do some crazy shit, and shit he shouldn't be doing. Maybe something he had done in his past had gotten out, or maybe…

Alex tightened her grip on Simon's hand. What if it was about their father and what he had done? Looking at Vlad, it was obvious he didn't know what was going on. Yuri on the other hand looked guilty. Oh what did he tell everyone? Yuri was no gossip princess! She sighed and waved him over. "Yuri, come 'ere!"

Yuri made his way over to their table with Vlad at his side, the whispering obviously beginning to bother Vlad to a great degree. He stood next to Alex, his eyes squinting at students. Trying to read their lips, trying to figure out whatever it was he was missing. But, he couldn't. They all their hands cupped towards the person the whispering was intended for. "Yes, Alex?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "Alright, spill it. It's obvious you know what the hell is going on here, and you are going to tell us. And before you even ask why," Alex pointed to Vlad, "you are his best friend and he is my brother, which makes me entitled to know your business."

Vlad shook his head. "That made no sense you dumbass," he looked over at Yuri. He had known Yuri since they were babies and knew when his best friend was keeping secrets. "but do tell us Yuri – what the fuck is going on?" The staring and whispering was getting on his nerves. He was going to lose it if someone didn't tell him what the fuck was going on. Yuri looked nervously around the table until his eyes landed on Alex's.

She looked expectantly up at him. "Well?"

Everyone quieted down to listen in, their eyes burning into the center of their circle. Someone broke through the molded wall of students, his footsteps heavy and confident. He walked straight over to Ravan, his eyes baring disappointment as she looked at him. "Hello, Blair," he being the only one able to get away with calling her that.

"_Charles_." She muttered.

He slightly stifled a laugh, taking a look at Vlad. His eyes angry, wanting him to go away. "How're you, Makarov?"

"Shut your face, Price." He sneered.

"John Charles Price?" Simon asked, "I thought my name was weird."

John gently took Ravan's upper arm, getting a very small reaction out of Vlad. For all they know, no one knows. But what they don't know, is _everyone _knows. He took out a rolled up piece of paper from his back pocket, handing it to her. "The cruddy school news?" She asked.

"Page seven."

Ravan flipped to the page and her eyes grew. Her breathing stopped as she stared at a picture of her and Vlad. Titled, _**Locking Lips, Like Locking Secrets**_. Her fingers gently pulled Vlad over by his jacket, showing him the picture. She tried to look for words in her brain, but all she heard was a busy tone. The rest of her brain trying to piece together what to do, what to say, how to explain – she couldn't even remember how to breathe for a moment. Her eyes like a tennis match, darting to her friends, to Price and finally to Vlad. He had his voice, no matter what. She was hoping he'd break the silence, break the stares – do something.

He stared down at the piece of paper. Vlad couldn't remember the last time he had felt this angry – probably not since Alex threw his first phone in their pool. But that was beside the point. It was different when it was with his friends, but this – this was his private life! What he did in his own god damn time was no one's business!

Vlad tore his eyes from the paper and looked at Yuri – he'd deal with him later. But he was more concerned about who had done this. And his first thought was the man who had Ravan's arm. He looked up at him, his eyes blazing with anger. "Funny you're carrying this around like some fucking souvenir, _Price_," he took a step towards Price and ripped the paper from Ravan's hand.

"Do you think this is some kind of fucking joke!? Putting this in the fucking paper as some way to get back at me!? 'Cause it's not funny you piece of shit!"

"Vlad." Ravan said sternly, grabbing his hand. The group of students around gasped, but she wasn't going to let Vlad's anger be wasted on the wrong person. "He didn't do it, John cares about me and wouldn't let this happen."

John took a step back from Vlad, feeling his personal space was being invaded. "Ravannah is right, _Vladimir_. Not only do I not have any care about you to follow you around like this, and not only do I care about Ravannah more than you or any of your friends comprehend – I was at work last night from eight to eleven. Went straight home after my shift because you have no idea how tiring it is to work for a shipping company." He stated as a matter of factly. "The only reason I have it was to show her, since she and her friends don't read this piece of garbage."

"I WORK HARD ON EVERYTHING IN THAT PAPER!" Dragov Kamarov called out, "I feel invaded of my work place! Someone snuck that in this morning under some false ID." His face full of anguish and pure pouting.

"Oh shut the fuck up Kamarov!" Alex stood, tearing her hand away from Simon's. If someone messed with her brother like this, then they were messing with her. And to make it worse for the offender, whoever they may be, they were messing with her best friend too. She stood by Ravan and took the picture from her brother's hands and shoved it in Price's face.

"You see this? This is interfering with someone's fucking life! This isn't a damned party or some stupid shit, this their private life and shouldn't have been fucked with asshole!"

Vlad glared at Price still, not believing him. Price had been out to get him for years and now he finally had the chance. "You listen here _pal_, I don't enjoy my life being fucked with. You're the only one, besides the idiots at this table, that has a reason to do this! And I know for a fact that these three wouldn't dare do anything like this!" He flexed his fingers.

He wasn't just angry – he was seething. Alex could feel it radiating off of him and by the looks of the surrounding people, they felt it too. In this state of anger there were few people he would listen to. He wasn't listening to anyone but his own thoughts and his own anger. In this state, Alex knew he was dangerous.

Price shook his head back and forth, "Vlad, that was a seriously dumb statement. There are at least _fifty_other people in school that would want to mess with your private life." He walked up to Vlad, baring his own anger down at him. He wasn't a liar, and he didn't do this. "What do I have against Ravan? Instead of you two being so fucking selfish, think for a moment – why on Earth would I ever do this to Ravan? The Sanderson's are basically a part of my family, and guess what? I'm just as angry as you two, I want to know who did this. Not for either for you, but for her." His hand rested on Ravan's shoulder, "The last thing she needs now is for Vlad to come into her life and fuck it all up."

"Agreed." Jason and Gary said through gritted teeth, Simon's knuckles cracking.

"Now, wait just a fucking minute." Ravan snapped, "Don't need Vlad to come in screwing up my life? Vlad has never screwed with my life! He's never treated me like he's treated any of you," her eyes scanning over all of her friends, "Before everyone goes to slit Vlad's metaphorical throat, can we all just figure out who wrote this article first?" Her arms began shaking, her eyes growing into a deep forest green. The confusion from earlier finally wore off and she was ready to tear someone apart. No one makes a fool of Ravannah Sanderson and gets away with it.

Gary bit his lip, inching by Alex and Vlad to his sister. His hands placed firmly on her arms as he stood behind her, getting ready to grab her before she pounced on any of the people beginning to whisper. He could see the aura of anger penetrating her being as her temper broke through the usual cage she kept it in. Who the fuck would be dumb enough to not only piss of Vlad, but to piss off Ravan too? Who has that big of a death wish? His eyes darted from person to person, waiting to see a smirk of victory, but there wasn't. There were gaped mouths and cupped hands for the whispering. The fury of the kiss washed over, but something topped it. Someone was fucking with _his_sister. His entire life, basically. Vlad's punishment/chasing off will have to come later because right now, someone else was higher up on Gary's kill list. "Shhh…" he whispered down at her.

Alex watched as Gary tried to calm Ravan down. But her brother seemed to be getting angrier. If Price was going to get hit by her brother, it was his own damn fault. Price had a hand on her and that wouldn't go over so lightly with Vlad. And she was right.

Vlad grabbed Price's wrist so tightly he could see his own veins popping out of his hand. "Don't. Fucking. Touch. Her." He said each word slowly, as if Price was a child too young to understand his words. He shoved the man back and stood in front of Ravan. He could feel how angry she was, and it only fueled his fire, threatening to send him over.

There wasn't much Alex could do, she knew that now. If a fight happened, it happened. First it would be with Price and then it would be with whoever was stupid enough to fuck with Vlad. The only one allowed to fuck with her brother was her and Yuri. That meant the only people who could stop him were her and Yuri. But Vlad looked like he was beyond their help. All she could do was watch as Price and Vlad got a little too close to each other. Where was the principal when he was needed?

Ravan began to think about this methodically, thinking of how to get everyone to disperse. She didn't want her anger boiling over, and she didn't want Vlad's anger to erupt. Her mind began to work like a super-computer, trying to formulate a way out of this. A lie. A plan. Something needed to pop into her head. The only thing was anger. "Everyone has exactly ten seconds to go somewhere else before I start using my boxing and what my Marine father has taught me!" She screamed, it didn't even sound like her. But it worked. People started to break away from the crowed, whispering and looking back. She stood there, glaring into the floor. Her eyes landed dead set on Kamarov, who was still standing there. Ripping away from Gary she marched over to him, grabbed the hook to his backpack and slammed him against the door, "Who fucking made the post?"

"I don't know!" Kamarov squirmed. Gary ran over, the calmer Sanderson. "Gary, friend! Help me out here!"

"Who did it?!" Gary's anger miniscule when compared to his sister, but it was there.

"I don't know!" He whined, "The person who did it signed in with Vlad's Student ID and password to put it the picture in and then yours to submit the story. They just changed the name at the bottom to Gold Eagle."

Her eye twitched, the person who did this had her school ID sign in. "So, you're in charge of all things related to the newspaper?"

"Yes," he stated proudly.

"Alright…," She stepped back. "YOU PATHETIC WEASLE!" Her fist drew back, but Gary caught it. "Why didn't you monitor it better?! You failure! You loser! You leech!"

Alex waited for her brother to do something, but it was like all his anger was gone. He was leaning against the table watching Ravan and Gary in absolute amusement. She stood there, dumbfounded by her brother. "Vlad, are you just going to stand there?"

Vlad wasn't standing there to just watch, he was trying to figure out who had done this. His student ID was still in his wallet, so someone had to have gotten a copy. Who in the hell would go through that much trouble to put him and Ravan in the middle of everything? He couldn't think of a single person. Usually there was someone he could think of but there was no one here.

He sighed and walked to Ravan, Gary, and Kamarov. He glared at Kamarov and leaned against the door next to him. "So, Kamarov, is there any way you can figure out who got into the computer?"

Alex watched her brother – so calm and collected as he talked things over with Kamarov. It wasn't like him. Her brother would have put Price in his place, not stand there and talk things out! Yes she was happy it didn't end in a bloody fight, but now what was going to happen? That was Vlad's reputation – he was a fighter, the bad boy from the wrong side of town. Or at least he was.

"Um," Kamarov began to think, "I'm not sure, that room is pretty—"

"Wait," Ravan stood up straight, finding some composure, "The place where you make the news thing, you do that in the AV room, right?"

"Yes, but—"

"But nothing! Gareth put a camera up in there last year to figure out who kept on stealing his snacks!"

Her eyebrows un-furrowed, before sighing. "But Gareth won't be back until Friday…"

Gary looked down at her, "So, we can't find out who fucked with you until Friday?"

"Not unless we make nice with Quincy," she hit her forehead against the door repeatedly, "he's the only other one who knows about the camera because he had to help Gareth set it up. Quincy being the brown-noser he is has access to Woodshop when Ms. Clemins isn't there, AKA after school."

John crossed his arms, "I don't like that little fool, and he's too arrogant to fall for us playing nice."  
Ravan kept hitting her forehead, "As I said before, not until Friday."

Vlad ran a hand down his face. This isn't how he wanted things to happen. He knew it was going to be a big deal to the entire school, but he didn't want it like this. He felt as if it was his fault all this had happened, and he knew he was right.

"Ravan, I'm sorry about all this. This shouldn't be happening right now." He ran a hand through his thick hair and leaned against the wall. He knew he should have a done a more thorough search of the park!

She stopped hitting her head to look at him, "No, it's not your fault. It's not my fault either. The only person at fault is the sick fucker who took the picture. I don't blame you at all." She hugged him, placing her head on his chest. Everyone knew now, what was the point of trying to hide anything?

"Are we going to pretend we're okay with this?!" Jason pointed at them.

"For now," John and Gary said in unison.

"We have bigger fish to fry, Jason." John glanced at him, "much, much, much bigger fish."

"I don't like fish…" Gary muttered.

"Then we'll all have a nice little talk about how wrong this is, and why this is even a thing." John cracked his knuckles, "Until then, we're just going to pretend we are."

"Why on Earth do I want to do that?" Simon looked at him.

"Because," he smiled, "this is exactly what they want. They want us to rip Vlad a part, isn't it obvious? They may have something against Ravan, but the smoking gun in all this is Vlad. They want you guys to tear him to pieces, and are we going to give them what they want? Give them that satisfaction?"

"No…" The three of the muttered.

"Exactly, we're going to all pretend this is the best thing ever and that we _really _wanted this to happen. At least until we find out who's done this, then we may all voice our opinions."

Vlad kept an arm around Ravan and looked at her friends. Well this was unexpected, but they had a point. He wasn't the problem right now, whoever was out to get him was. Alex clapped a hand on her brothers shoulder. "Well, it looks like you have some temporary allies," She slapped his arm hard, "Now don't fuck it up."

He glared at his sister and shoved her, making her fall into the wall. "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't see you there."

Alex rolled her eyes and brushed the imaginary dirt off her clothes. "Prick…"

Vlad took a step forward towards Simon, Gary, Jason, and Price, "So we have to wait until Friday to find out who did this? Riley, why can't you go in there and find out? Alex always brags about your computer skills."

Simon looked down, "I was the one stealing his snacks…"

"Way to go, moron." Gary gritted his teeth.

"Oh, I'm a moron? Says the one who pronounced his last name Ravannahsdale. You way to go!"

"Oh, yeah?!"

"Knock it off!" Ravan smacked Gary's head, before shoving him into Simon. "We all have to act like we all like each other. Act like friends, allies – all of that nice stuff. I swear on everything I hold dear, if anyone fucks this up and let's that little fucker get any fucking satisfaction – I will tie you to the flag pole in your fucking underwear!" She snapped in a hushed whisper. Turning around, she reached up and fixed Vlad's disheveled hair.

"We all have to be nice no matter what? What about out of school?" He bent down a little, given the height difference between him and Ravan, so she could fix his hair.

Alex rolled her eyes. "It's not going to be that hard. You just have to be well mannered the entire time. Come on, it'll be funny! I mean fun!"

Yuri chuckled. "Oh this is going to be good."

"Oh shut it Yuri!"

Her eyes shot to Alex and Yuri, "You really think me and Vlad being embarrassed is funny? You think someone knowing our school ID and password is funny? You know what I think is going to be funny? Me kidnapping you in the night to drop you off in the desert if you don't take this seriously. This, in no way, will ever be funny. None of that, 'you'll look back at it and a laugh' bullshit here. The person who has those copies can see our grades, anything bad we've ever done and worse. What if they slide our cards at lunch – then we won't be able to have lunch. Or they take out library books that we'd have to pay back out of our pockets? Up, down, left and right shows no trace of this being even a little humorous Alexandria and Yuri."

Next they shot to Vlad, "And don't think I don't mean any of these threats for you either, Vladimir. Or anyone in this group for that matter. I will make you feel what I'm feeling inside, but through physical pain. If anyone thinks this is funny, I'm going to get copies of your IDs and embarrass the shit out of you and fucking show your whole private life to the whole school."

Alex felt her face get red. She felt like she was being scolded by her mother. She looked up at Yuri, just to see him trying not to laugh. And it wasn't at the situation, it was because she had been yelled at and wasn't going to do anything about it. And she wasn't going to do anything about it. This was serious, but she had to tease her brother just the slightest. He wasn't a nice person and none of the people around them right now liked him.

She shook her head. Whoever did this is going to know something's up, but she confined the thought to herself and instead turned to Yuri, lightly hitting his stomach. She whispered yelled at him, "Knock it off with that look! You're going to get us in trouble again!"

He smiled at her. "But you like trouble with me."

Suddenly she realized she was being a little too familiar with Yuri and looked around to see if anyone had noticed. It looked like Yuri's tease had gone unnoticed. She looked back up at him and had to smile. He was going to fuck with Vlad's head until Friday.

"Take it easy on him, alright?"

Yuri shrugged. "Oh so I'm gonna have to take it easy but you'll probably be testing his patience off? Uh no – between the two of us, we are going to do one hell of a patience test." She laughed at Yuri. "Yuri I mean it – he's going to be stressed enough as it is."

With a sigh, Yuri rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll take it easy on him. Just remember that whatever happens here gets taken out of on poor Yuri after school."

"Oh, 'cause you're so defenseless." Alex grinned up at Yuri, until she saw Simon watching her intently. Her grin faded as her eyes met his blues. She hoped she didn't look too suspicious with Yuri, but there were other things to worry about than that, much bigger things.


	9. Red Handed

**I am on time for once when it comes to posting! Yes! **

**Thank you for the reviews, Prinzessin Mia and PFC. Awesomeness - tonsils are a bitch. I can't wait to keep posting and let everyone see what will happen next. **

**Ravan belongs to Quiet Alias, who is not on fanfiction, and Alex belongs to me.**

**OoO**

"So, how was sitting in the backseat?"

Over the past couple days, in the spirit that everyone had to be nice to each other, Alex was for once allowed to talk to Yuri at school rather than the occasional time they were alone at her house. It was strange, but it was good to talk to someone who wasn't going to chew her head off for finding Vlad being nice funny.

Alex sighed and rolled her eyes as they entered the cafeteria. "Oh, I had a blast! I wasn't aware that once he got a girlfriend I was banded from shotgun."

Another adjustment in the spirit of being nice was the seating arrangements – Vlad now sat with them. It bothered Alex that her brother had to sit with them, but there was nothing she could do about it. It just made her angry that he could touch Ravan at the table, but if Simon came within three inches of her she was dead when she got home.

She sat next to Simon and kissed his cheek. "So, when are we going to find out who put the pic in the paper?"

Ravan's eyes fixed onto the side gate, "As soon as I see Gareth walk into this school, I'm homing in on him like a missile to the back of an F-13." She dug her nails into the table.

Gary looked at her, "Easy, Ravan. He's not the one who did it."

"I know, but I want to know who I get to murder."

John sat down on the other side of Gary, "In all good time, Ravan. In all good time." He cleared his throat before forcing a fake smile and a cheery tone, "How are you doing today, Vlad? I say, you look a fresh as a rose."

And the fun for Yuri and Alex began. Their mental notepads got ready to write the days comments for later use. If Ravan knew what they had been doing, they'd be dead. Vlad sure as hell knew by the look he gave her. "Thank you, John. You look very nice today yourself."

Vlad got that glint in his eyes, like he had been around this time, and brought Ravan closer to him. "And you look mighty fine today too, Ravan." He kissed her cheek and smiled. Alex knew how much that was going to bother the guys at the table. Vlad had really been testing himself, and after they found out who the guilty party was today, he was going to get smoked.

Ravan seemed disgruntled today; maybe it was the fact that she was going to learn who it was today. She wanted to know so badly, her shoulders tensing up. "I can't wait…"

"We're going to get him, Ravan." Gary squeezed her hand, "I promise."

"Oh, I know, and I'm going to destroy him." Her voice came out like a low growl.

Vlad rubbed her back soothingly. "_We're _going to destroy him. No one fucks with my life or _my_ girl."

Alex had Simon's hand splayed on the table and played with his fingers. "It could be a girl you know. I can think of one in particular who isn't happy with you right now."

"Natalie? She's not smart enough for this. And even if she was, she would have confronted me about it instead of doing _this_."

Still, Alex had her worries. "I'm just saying. When a girl gets cheated on, her first thought is revenge."

"GARETH!" Ravan literally ran across the table, jumped down and took off. Everyone followed after. She slid to a stop to a towering Brit donning a cap with his country's flag. His smoke filled orbs watched as everyone else made their way over. "We need you to show us the video surveillance from the AV room. It's super important!"

As soon as everyone got there, he cleared his throat, "Hi, Gareth! How was your time visiting your dying grandfather back in England? Why, yes, I did. He's going to make a full recovery, though. Thanks for asking, Gareth!" His accent slightly raspier than Simon's.

She sighed heavily, "I missed you, Gareth. But this is important." She hugged him tightly.

Gareth hugged her back, before looking down at her, "Course it is, your eyes only get that dark when it's super serious. What is it?"

John dug through his backpack and found the news letter. Still folded open to page seven like it had been left. "This happened while you were gone."

They waited until he finished reading it, a swoop of rage flushing over his face. Though, it could be disputed about their coupling or the invasion of privacy. He looked right at her, no one else, "Who?"

"That's what we need you for," she grabbed his wrist as she started pulling him towards the AV room.

"They used the AV room to post it up, using Vlad and I's IDs. We need you to show us the video so we can find out who."

He nodded quickly, "Seems doable. If Simon wasn't such a thief, he'd be able to help."

Simon rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't be a thief if you would have just shared…"

"And if you hadn't been a thief, we wouldn't have that camera in there, and if we hadn't had the camera, we'd be screwed." Alex smiled at Simon and pecked his cheek. She could feel Vlad's eyes burning holes into her. Oh he hadn't seen nothing yet. It was the last day of being nice – she was going to take advantage of it, even though when she got home Vlad would try and kill her.

Vlad nodded at Gareth. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's find out who the bastard is."

"Yeah, mate, _the _bastard." His voice sounded somewhat dejected. He unlocked the door to the AV room.

"It smells like nerds in here." Gary whined.

"Shut it, Gary. I'm part of the AV club too." Ravan's eyebrows furrowed.

"Yeah, one of the first to join when I started it," Gareth slightly grinned. He led everyone to the back of the room before removing a roof-to-floor poster, revealing a secret door. It had been the extra closet, but no one knew about it. He plopped down at a computer, "So, when was this posted?"

"Sometime Monday," Ravan stood behind him, peering down at the screen.

"Alright, it's going to take a couple of minutes for the tape to rewind," he looked up at her. Like the only person he wanted to acknowledge right now was her. But his eyes quickly snapped to Gary, "Who hates your sister?"

"That's just it, the only person I think would hate her would be Natalie, but she's a moron!" His hands thrown up in the air.

"Too right, mate. The ditz." Gareth now looked back to Ravan, "Who'd you piss off, love?"

"I have no idea." Ravan crossed her arms, getting her fury going.

Vlad sighed. "It's probably some guy trying to get back at me, not her. So once again, I'm going to apologize for pulling you into this."

"That's the third apology this week, a personal record." Alex teased Vlad, earning a glare from him. "Watch it, or you'll be seeing your personal life in here."

"Do what you want, but everyone knows my business. I have no secrets." Vlad snorted in response. His sister was very honest. But Alex bit her lip as she watched the tape. If only Vlad knew what secrets, or more like secret, she kept from him. Now that would make headline in the school paper.

"Alright, Ravan and others – here's midnight, Monday Morning." Gareth pressed play. It became eerily quiet in the room, everyone wanting to know the perp. As they watched, one AM, two AM, three AM, four AM. "There we are," the light from the door opened peered into the room. All they could really tell by the build of the person, that it was a male.

Ravan felt her heart collapse, "He's covered from head to toe…"

"CHEATER! NO FAIR! I CALL CHEATING!" Gary screamed at the computer.

"Can't hear ya, mate." Simon gripped his shoulder, "Didn't even have the bollocks to show his fuckin' face."  
"I can't believe it… he's getting away with what he did to me… to Vlad…" Ravan's head dropped in shame as she used Gareth as support. Her hands wrapped around his shoulders, trying to keep herself from letting any tears escape.

"Fucking bastard…" Vlad watched as the man in the video uploaded the picture. He wrapped an arm around Ravan's waist and kissed her head. "So fucking close!" If Vlad could only see his face! The build and the way he walked looked familiar, but he couldn't place a finger on who exactly it was. Whoever they were was getting away with what they had done.

Alex put a hand on Gareth's shoulder. "Is there anything else you can do? Enhance it or something? Zoom in? There has to be something we can identify him by!"

"No offense, miss, but if he never looks at the camera, I can't do anything." Gareth looked at her, "Logically."

Ravan leaned closer, pulling away from Vlad. Her torso leaning over Gareth. Everyone watched as she zoomed in a bit, but they weren't sure about what. Pulling back, everyone saw this anger on her face.

"That motherfucker!" She ended up shoving Vlad into a wall, Alex to the floor and almost ripped the door off its hinges.

"RAVANNAH!" Gary took off after her, Simon close at his heels.

Alex stayed with her brother and Gareth. "Who the hell is it?"

Vlad looked between the door and the computer. "I'm going to follow her," he handed his car keys to Alex, "Just in case I'm tempted to get that _thing _from the car."

Shoving the keys in her pocket, she followed behind with Yuri. That _thing _happened to be their father's sidearm that was always in the glove box of Vlad's Charger. She looked at Yuri. "Do I go and hide the gun on him or do I just follow?"

"Following should do."

To catch up, the two had to run. It wasn't hard to find the scene – there was plenty of yelling, swearing, and kids gathered around. Alex looked around for her brother and Ravan, but was having a hard time seeing. Being short had its disadvantages. "Yuri, you got them?" He nodded and whistled loudly. "Well we got our offender."

Simon walked over to Alex, hunched over. "She punched me in the stomach for trying to pull her off him."

Gary hopped over on one foot, "Kicked me in the shin! Her own brother!"

Ravan had Quincy Shepherd against the floor, her fist nailing against his face time and time again. She wanted to stop, she thought she got her point across – but she couldn't. He invaded her privacy. Made a fool out of her. Made a fool out of Vlad. But more importantly her! No one ever gets away with messing with Ravan, she made sure of it. Quincy tried shoving her off, but it wasn't working. It was like Ravannah had hooks in her knees, the hooks being attached to the ground. She was making sure he understood boundaries, and how it's rude to snoop. Or, at least she thought that's what she was doing. That's what she had told herself.

"Alright, I see blood." Gareth pushed through the group of students. He stood behind Ravan, hooked his arms around her and yanked her up. She was still flailing, screaming obscenities. 'He's not finished yet!' 'I haven't taught him his lesson yet!'. He heard her friends walking up to surround Quincy. His nose bloodied, his lip split. You could already see the bruises forming on his arms and face. Slowly standing up, you could see some scrapes on his back from being tackled onto the hard concrete. You almost could feel sorry for him. Almost.

Gently rubbing Simon's arm, she risked a glance at her brother. Of course it was Quincy – the bastard had been out to get Vlad since he took his place on the football team freshmen year. She didn't know what Vlad would do. It could go one of two ways.

"So, Quincy – how are you feeling?" Vlad heard him murmur something smart to him. He crouched down to his level, grabbed his shirt, and pulled him up to his feet, then slammed into the nearest surface, which just happened to be the wall. "What was that? I didn't quite catch it."

Gareth set Ravan down, locking his arms tightly around her to keep her from going back for round two. "Quincy, I knew you were an idiot, but this is a little extreme," his voice holding anger, but his face didn't show it.

Ravan tried ripping away from him, "HE'S NOT DONE YET! HE'S STILL TALKING SHIT, GOD DAMN IT!"

"Shh…" Gary rubbed her shoulders, obstructing her view. "Ravan, it's over. He's learned his lesson. There's blood on your shirt."

"YOU RUINED MY SHIRT, YOU FUCKER!"

"Ravan, you won." Gareth rubbed the small of her back with his knuckles, "Everything is over and done."

She huffed for a minute, "The spineless…"

"Yes, he's a sack of shit, worthless, nothing, leech, detestable…" he droned off, "and you won."

"Fine." Her arms crossed tightly, small movements every time Gareth rubbed downward on her back.

Vlad tore his eyes away from Quincy to watch Gareth and Ravan. Just this once, he'd let it slide. But for now, he had to focus on Quincy, and the fact he would be paying the principal's office very soon. His mom and dad wouldn't be happy about this.

"Now Ravan didn't do shit to you, you understand? It was me the entire fucking time." Vlad pressed him harder against the wall and tightened his grip on Quincy's shirt, making his knuckles turn white. Ravan didn't need to go to the principal and get suspended.

Quincy glared at him. "Well, look who's turned into a big softy."

With a smirk, Vlad quickly nailed him in the stomach, making Quincy hunch over and start a coughing attack. Just as Quincy hunched over, he was down on the floor from another punch and Vlad was flexing his fingers, blood all over them and spatters on his clothes, but he kept a knee on Quincy's stomach to keep him in place. He had to admit, Ravan did a good number on him.

"Or, how about Quincy doesn't say a fucking thing about any of this." Gareth stepped around her. The rest of her friends, besides Simon, didn't really know Gareth. No one really knew why he was being so over-protective of Ravan either. He looked down at him, holding his hand out to Vlad. Giving him an unsure look, Vlad grabbed his hand and Gareth helped him up. "You got jumped on your way to school."

"No, I di—"

Within a second, Gareth had his collar and ripped him up off the floor. "You. Got. Jumped. By. Other. People. Or else that little key of yours is going down a fucking drain and you'll never step another foot into the AV room without worrying about if I'm there or not. If Ravan," he stopped for a moment, closing his eyes tightly, "or _Vlad _get in trouble for any of this – you're going to be worrying about me, mate. And trust me, I live next door to you – do you really think you'd ever be able to hide from me?"

Quincy shook his head, "N-no… but everyone else will tell!"

"I don't think so, mate. They don't like you either. You brought this on yourself. Now get out of here." Gareth set him down gently.

Ravan watched as he took off, "Thanks, Gareth."

"No problem, love." He looked down at his hands, decorated with crimson. "Oh, gross. I'm going to go wash my hands and get the school work I missed. Talk to you guys later."

Vlad nodded a thank you to Gareth, but he had his doubts about Quincy. He didn't mind going to the principal's office and getting a couple days of suspension – if it wasn't this he got suspended for, it sure as hell was going to be something else.

"You know, the teachers aren't going to know what's up with you, Vlad. You haven't paid a visit to the principal in two weeks. He's going to think you've lost your way." Yuri looked mischievously at Vlad.

Vlad smirked. "Oh, the principal will get what's coming to him," he looked at Ravan's friends. "after I get what's coming to me."

He turned to them, his hands in his pockets. "Alright, have your goes at me. The perp has been caught, no more need to be nice."

Gary walked up to him, "You know, all this time we've spent hanging out shows that we're actually not that different. I think we could all get along and be friends." He smiled.

"Really, Gary?" Ravan's eyes lit up.

"NO, NOT REALLY!" Gary yelled, "WHY MY SISTER?! ALL THE WHORES IN THE SCHOOL AND YOU GO AFTER MY PURE RAVANNAH?! ARE YOU INSANE?! SHE'S NOT GOING TO SUCK YOUR DICK, IF THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING FOR! RAVAN IS A GOOD GIRL! A GOOD GIRL! SO, WHY DON'T YOU TAKE YOUR ASS, YURI, AND YOURSELF BACK TO THAT SLEW OF JACKASSES AND LEAVE THE INOCCENT ALONE?!"

Everyone stood there for a moment, Gary's outburst stunning them. They all glanced back and forth, "Gary Bryce Sanderson…" She muttered.

"Don't full name me, Ravannah Blair Sanderson! He's bad for you, you know it!"

"No, you want to know something?" Ravan stood in front of Vlad, "You guys just don't want to face a single fact. One blaring fact."

"What?" Simon glaring deeply at Vlad.

"Vlad has treated me better than most of you have," her arms crossed tightly. Their attention turned to her, and they went to argue. "He's never lied to me. He's never forgot about me. He's never ditched me. He always remembers me. I mean something to him all the time, not just when I'm interested in someone else. Or when he thinks I can' think for myself. Out of everyone standing around me in this group, Vladimir Makarov is the only one who has never, ever hurt me."

"And the prophet has spoken." Vlad clasped his hands together. He wasn't going to say anything to ruin what was actually true. This week had been a little too exciting for him and he needed to let off some steam, steam that wasn't going to be wasted on them. "Now, if none of you mind, I need to get Ravan cleaned up and to class. And Yuri and I…"

Yuri smirked. "Oh we're going to go for a walk. Can we have the keys to the Dodge, Al?"

"Just don't touch Mason." Mason was the name of the gun in the glove box. Her and Vlad didn't know where the name came from, but for the past two years, that's what they called it.

Rolling his eyes, he snatched the keys from his sister's hands. "Oh I'm not going to kill anyone – we're just gonna have some fun with principal Snyder, _Al_." He smiled at the group around him. "So you have your answer – I'm not leaving Ravan, no matter what any of you say or do, so get over yourselves."

Gary started stuttering, and Ravan walked up to him. "Gary, I love you more than life itself, but this is something your whining isn't going to change…" She turned around to walk with Vlad, "I'm going to go get cleaned up, I'll catch up later."

He watched as his sister walked away with the man he tried so desperately to keep her from, "This isn't fair," he sounded like he was about to cry.

"Mate…" Simon placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"This isn't fair, this isn't supposed to happen. Ravan is a good girl, not a bad one." Tears fell from his eyes.  
"She's still a good girl, Gary. Now, she's a good girl dancing with the devil…" John muttered, awkward in situations that had crying.

"He's going to make her bad…"

"No one's going to make anyone bad. Look, I live with that fucker and I'm still okay!"

Jason rolled his eyes. "You are not okay. You're fucked up in the head, if anything."

"Oh shut up Jase!" Alex gave Jase a light shove, laughing. "We're all fucked up in the head, some more than others. Ravan could handle herself pretty damn well against Quincy – Vlad will be no different."

Simon's eyebrows twitched for a moment, "Gareth, uh… Gareth was kind of… handsy with her, don't you think?"

Gary wiped his face, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, Ravan doesn't really like being touched all that much… exceptions here and there… I never knew they were that close. He was massaging her back while Vlad took his turn with Quincy."

"Yeah, she and Gareth are close," his voice weak, "they IM each other all the time, and when…" he sighed heavily, "Like Ravan said… when he forget about her when we make plans, he's always been there to make sure she wasn't alone. They used to hang out _all _the time freshman year. Played video games at our house a lot. Real try hard."

Alex shifted uncomfortably. As much as Vlad would want her to tell him what was said when he, Ravan, and Yuri left, she would have to lie. He would go through the roof and that's something she didn't want.

"Well, how about we drop it? I don't like it either, but it's been a very eventful day and none of us need my brother having an aneurism over this, because he will and it won't be pretty."

"Why are you so keen on dropping it?" She shrugged at Jason. "Because the more I talk about the guiltier I'm going to look when I go home tonight and I get interrogated by my brother. Which reminds me Jase," she stuck her tongue out at Simon, "since a certain _boyfriend_ is too busy for me tonight, you want to come over and keep me company? We can talk then."


	10. Dirty Mind

**So, my internet ran out. I'm currently working off the weak signal on my phone, which is seriously a pain in posting and writing and everything in between. But, it is better than nothing at all.**

**PFC. Awesomeness, thank you for the review - Gareth is Gaz, yes. I didn't really think about that as being confusing until you asked. Gareth is Gaz, Gaz is Gareth. **

**Once again, Ravan belongs to Quiet Alias, who is not on fanfiction, and Alex belongs to me. Jason is John MacTavish, and we do not own any of the Call of Duty characters. Enjoy!**

**OoO**

Jason sat uncomfortably across from Alex at the island counter in their kitchen, watching the carbonation of his drink send bubbles to the top. After a day like today, and _that _relationship being confirmed – all he wanted to do was go home and lie down. Holding in most of the pain all this has caused him, and has continued to cause him was really hard. He wanted to go off on Vlad, but he was afraid that he might've gotten to the point of anger that he wouldn't be able to conceal his anguish any longer and they both would've exploded. Tears and hurtful words pouring out of his mouth, maybe even a couple for Ravan.

He kicked himself inside, why did he have to fuck up asking her out? All he had to do was say what he had rehearsed with Alex, and all the times he said to himself in the mirror. Then Ravan would be with him right now. The thought of what they could possibly be doing made him rather sick. Especially thinking about what he could've done today after he cleaned her up. If he was desperate to get them apart, he could easily say that her rage came from him. But, he was smarter than that. That was just plain old Ravan rage. "What are we supposed to be talking about, Alex?" His voice was soft, his mind still racing about her.

Alex flipped a page in one of her father's psychology books as she sat on top the island counter. "Well, apart from the fact my boyfriend ditched me tonight – your feelings on the past week, today, and how you feel about Vlad and Ravan. Now I know you're going to say that I already know how you feel, but trust me, it helps to express those feelings and let it all out."

Jason stared straight in front of him, how do you even begin to explain your heart being stomped on? "I feel… powerless… desolate…. And frankly pissed off. All I had to fucking do was ask her out, that's it! I just had to prove to her that I cared, but no, I couldn't even fucking do that correctly. I had so many opportunities, I could've texted. I could've have called, I could've asked in math class. That's all that I needed to do, and she'd be here with me. I'd be able to hold her like I want to, but no. Because I'm a fucking spineless prick, when I look at her she's off with your brother. Something that pisses me off even more! He's going to hurt her. He's going to make her into something like him. He's going to make her into a whore. He's going to make her into something, and I know it!" His voice broke for a second, but he regained his composure. "And there's not a damn thing I can even do about it!"

"Nothing you can do about it?" Taking the hardcover book, she whacked him in the head. "You, Jason MacTavish, are going to _quit_ on Ravannah Sanderson? I'm ashamed of you! Yes, you had plenty of opportunities to ask her out, but you can't change that. But what you can change is the future. The past has been set in stone, as has right now, but the future can still be rewritten and changed! You still have a chance!" Pausing, Alex realized that reading these books was making her sound like her father. It was weird, but hopefully effective. If not effective, she was going to have to question his practice as a Psychiatrist.

"Ah, yes, I remember now. I just buy a bouquet of violets and bluebells, a nice box of chocolates and run to her door. Asking her out, because I've been in love with her since sixth grade, but now I can't say it because she's with someone else! She'll run straight into my arms, Alex!" Jason looked at her, took the book from her hand and hit her over the head back. "All that would do would just confirm what she said, though it was false, and paint a target on my back for Vlad. Yes, I think that will work out just nicely."

Tearing the book out of his hands, she rubbed her head. "First off, I'm the counselor right now, which means I'm the one who's allowed it hit people. Second off, I never asked you to run to her door with hearts and flowers dumbass. There's something called friendship, or maybe you've forgotten about it? You need to be her friend, which you already are, and be there for her. Simon, Gary, and Gareth, they don't like this Ravan and Vlad thing, which will put them at a disadvantage. You on the other hand are going to man up and like it for Ravan to stay close to her."

"You mean… sit with her on the sidelines? Whispering sweet nothings every time Vlad isn't there? Being that one friend who's always there? Vlad couldn't do a damn thing about it! I'm her friend! I was her friend before he was her boyfriend! I could just chill with Ravan, like friends do and every time your brother is too busy, or when he starts getting bored of no sex – I will be right there with Ravan, winning her back!" Jason's grin spread across his face, "My God, this is brilliant! So simple, yet so cunning!"

"What would you do without me, Tavvy? Oh that's right – you'd be miserable and moping around your house or Simon's bitching about the entire situation. 'Thank you Alex, for being a good friend.' Oh you're welcome Jason! Anything for my favorite man!" She smiled at him. When all else failed, a little tough love always seemed to work.

"Ravannah, you're still mine, darling!" Jason jumped up, "I'm not defeated yet, and I'm not going to roll over so easily! Just you wait, Vlad, Ravan will be mine soon enough. Then I'll be all lovey dovey and gross like you were being! BUT WORSE!" He laughed loudly, sending his voice through the house. "By the way, how long do you think Vlad can last without sex?"

She thought about it for a moment. "In the summer I told him I'd pay him five dollars each day he didn't have sex. He made it a good month and a couple days. But I really don't know, it depends on what Ravan will give him." Regretting what she said, she sent Jason an apologetic look. "Sorry, but it's the truth. Like you said, Ravan may or may not start to act like Vlad – I think she already does – and if that's the case, he's going to be getting something else. But I could be wrong."

Jason's face hit the table, "Gary was right. She's going to turn into a bad girl," he looked at her, "please stop poking holes in his condoms. Just in case for whatever reason something does happen. I don't think Gary, you, me or the entire world could handle a Sanderov child, do you?" His body shuddered at the thought of anything like that happening. "Great, I'm going to have the nightmare where Ravan and Vlad get married again, but this time they'll bare children. Good going, Alex and Jason."

"Those two will never have children, not even over my dead body! I am not ready to be an aunt and my parents are not ready to be grandparents!" Putting her book down, she hopped off the island counter to the hardwood floor. "Now that you've reminded me about ruining my brother's condoms, I should probably go get rid of them all, 'cause there isn't a single one his room that doesn't have a hole in it. Want to come with me into the dragons den and help me go through it?" In all the time she had known Jason, she had never taken him into Vlad's room. Maybe taking him into the dragons den would better his mood, if he was man enough to go in there.

Jason nodded, "That sounds like a fun idea…" he masked the fear in his voice as best as they could. The two of them crept upstairs, listening close for that front door. With each step taken closer to Vlad's room, his adrenaline pumped. No one had ever been in Vlad's room, this was like finding a new country! He watched as Alex picked the lock. The door opened with a long squeaking sound, and immediately the dark room was somewhat visible through the curtains.

"Now, don't touch anything except what I tell you to touch. You move something just a centimeter and he'll notice, trust me." The only time Alex ever came into her brother's room was to either clean it under her mother's orders, to get his laundry, or to just snoop.

Turning on the light switch, the room became illuminated. It was a large room, hardwood floors, and dark blue walls. And it was messy. Alex's OCD kicked in and she started picking up the clothes on the floor to make a path for Jason. "Alright, take the desk in the corner and the closet, they're in there somewhere. I'll get the TV and nightstand, then we'll share the bed. This man has more condoms than a porn star."

It did occur to her that her brother was going to notice his clean floor and that his condoms were missing, but he'd get over the clothes. Before he got home tonight, if he even came home, she'd have to go to the store and start restocking his room or he'd start to assume she was using them. That wouldn't go down well.

Jason let out a disgusted sigh, "Why on Earth would he need so many?!" His hand reached down into the drawer, pulling out a handful of condoms. "There's enough in this drawer alone for the football team! My God, if he ever does get in Ravan's pants, at least he'll be well prepared with this arsenal!" He quickly emptied out the drawer, moving to the closet. He really wanted to run out of the room now, because this was too much of Vlad he didn't need to see. His stomach was actually turning as he gripped each handful of the packets. Then he turned his attention to Alex, "How long did you spend poking holes in all of these?"

"Dude, I don't mean to creep you out, but when he would bring Natalie over here, they spent the entire fucking day in this room. They literally had sex the entire day. It was disgusting."

Alex pulled the nightstand drawer out and it was filled to the top in different brands of condoms. "But usually he's gone all Saturday morning to the gym, so I come in here, look for them, and poke holes in them. So about two to three hours every Saturday. He buys these damn things all week so I have to do it every Saturday over and over again."

"All day?" Jason looked over at her, "Does he have some kind of pill he takes? Because I'd like to get a hold of that. I can maybe go two-three rounds in a day, but then I'm exhausted." Another hand full into the bucket. His eyes peered down at the still mounting pile of square packets smiling back up at him. "Three hours every Saturday? You love fucking with him, don you? I mean, Jesus, I'd never have any patience to do any of this. Not buy all these condoms, the sex and the poking holes thing – nothing. You two are one weird pair of siblings. I don't even think Gary has condoms," he thought about it, the Sanderson's being the only other pair of siblings in their group. "I don't think he's ever had sex, either."

Shaking her head she moved to the entertainment system. "He works out a lot – stamina building I guess – mostly running, weightlifting, and kickboxing. So it's all day Saturday," Alex shudder, "and I'm going to stop talking about his sex life. I'm not going to ruin your life by telling you it. That man I call my brother has no shame in talking about his sex life or making it known through the entire house that he's having sex."

She pulled his xbox and ps3 out, finding some more hidden behind them. "It's all worth it in the end, that's the only reason I go through all the patience, just to see him all riled up and pissed off, that's the highlight of my day."

"And now that highlight is gone because there's a small, miniscule, tiny chance you might see Ravan go into this room for a whole Saturday…" Jason disgusted himself, his nose turning up slightly. "If that ever happens, I'm going to supply you with air horns to fuck it all to hell! COCKBLOCK THAT SON OF A BITCH!" He yelled louder than necessary. "AND I'M OUT OF THE CONDOMS OVER HERE, and holy fuck is that stack of magazines all dirty?"

Finishing her search of the TV, she joined Jason, picked a magazine up and examined it. "Yes it is. I guess he moved them after I found them and started drawing in them with sharpie." She placed it back in the pile. "I wouldn't touch those if I were you, and I'm pretty sure you know why."

She touched them with her foot in disgust. "My brother is an insatiable son of a bitch, isn't he?"

"Shit, missed a box," While leaning over the magazines to grab the final box of condoms, his shin knocked into them – sending them sprawled out to the floor. "Well, fuck… Have fun, Alex. His DNA is your DNA."

Alex picked up and smacked one of the magazines across his face. "There, that's for being a prick and knocking them over!" She bent over and started restacking the magazines. This was absolutely disgusting just thinking about what her brother did with these filthy things. "Dude, I hate you so much rate now." Picking up another, something fell out of it. Oh god, this just got better and better!

Jason screamed like a little girl while he clawed at his face, "VLAD'S UNBORN CHILDREN, OH MY FUCKING GOD, ALEX WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?! ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS! EWW?! I'M NEVER GOING TO BE CLEAN AGAIN! I FEEL SO DIRTY!" He saw a couple of picture upside down on the floor, the white backs staring back up at him, "He has pictures within magazines? I've heard of horndogs, but holy fucking shit. He's like General Sexual."

Alex shook her head. Her brother was just a fucking sex addict. "Jase, I'm so sorry you have to see this." She reached for the pictures and stared at them, her mouth open. "HOLY FUCKING SHIT!" She threw the picture back down on the ground and wiped her hands on Vlad's walls. "DON'T LOOK AT THAT! YOU'LL REGRET IT!"

With hesitation, Jason picked them up. His eyes nearly bugged out of his sockets, a nice stack of pictures from this summer, with some from last. All of them were of Ravan, in a tight bikini. Jason vaguely remembered last years, but he remembered this year's all too well. With her bust size being a 44D, hourglass shape and slightly big bottom barely being covered with this distracting fabric – it's something that isn't really that hard to forget. But the weirder part was, she wasn't posed for the picture. In a few she was laying down on the sun chair, or sitting on the side of the pool. "I… I don't remember taking pictures at all this summer, do you?"

Alex picked up the pictures and looked at them, some ripped in half. "Um, yeah… some of these are of me and Ravan, or they used to be…" As much as she hated to admit it, her brother may have some stalker tendencies.

She put the photos back in the magazine, getting a disapproving look from Jason. "What? If I take them he'll know I was in here!" Carefully placing the magazine back in its spot, she put them back where they had been found. "How about we pretend we didn't just see that? I don't even want to think about why those are in there."

Jason walked right up to her, his face inches away from hers. He was going to get revenge for her hitting him in his face with one of those nasty magazines. God only knows all whose _fluids_ have been on there. "Your brother has been beating his dick to pictures of your best-friend, some of which he took without permission, others he cut you from."

Glaring at him, she pointed to the stack of magazines. "If I take them, he'll know it was me and he'll kill me and he'll kill you because I'm not going down alone!" Her finger moved to him, poking his chest. "So, if you want to die, go right on ahead and take them."

Before Jason could retort, they heard the front door shut. Two voices could be heard… Oh, dear, God… It was Ravan and Vlad! His eye looked at her, both frozen in their tracks. _One step, two steps, three steps_.

"What are you two doing?!" Ravan whispered at them.

"Dying, apparently…" Jason muttered.

"Cleaning out this filthy room. It's disgusting!" Her nose crinkled in disgust.

The steps of Vlad coming up the steps behind her sounded off the walls, almost as if they were three times louder than they should've been. "Erm, Vladimir, how about we just go watch movies on the couch? We don't need to go to the theaters."

Vlad looked at her funny, "I thought we were going to go see _Annabelle_?"

"I changed my mind! Let's just watch slasher movies on the couch, eat popcorn and save money!" She tried turning him around.

"Or we could watch them in my room," his arms locked around her waist, "king sized bed, bigger TV than the living rooms."

"But the snacks!"

"Let's pick out a movie first." He started backing her up the stairs, Alex and Jason still not visible to him.

"This is how I die…." Jason whispered almost silently.

Ravan started panicking inside, he would rip them both into itty, bitty pieces! Or at least Jason. She quickly pinned Vlad against the wall at an angle, so he couldn't see into his room. "R-Ravan?" She forcibly started kissing him, hopefully distracting him enough for them to sneak out of the room unseen. She made her sure her body kept him pinned at this angle, but by the way his hands were gliding over her hips – they're probably safe to slip out.

Alex lightly slapped Jason to knock him out of his daze. "Grab what we have filled and take them to my room, now!"

Jason took all they had found and threw it into a jacket to carry down the hallway to Alex's bedroom, while Alex shut the light to Vlad's bedroom off and gently closed his bedroom door. Oh she owed Ravan big time for this. Her brother making out with her best friend was making her nauseous, and she could tell by Jason's face it was having the same effect. As soon as Vlad and Ravan were out of sight, they bolted down the hallway into Alex's room, all condoms they had found in hand.

Panting against her door, they sat on the floor. "Well, I guess we're not spending the night alone."

Jason looked at her, "He had a bag on his arm. Drug store. Wanna play guess what he bought?"

"He's not having sex with Ravan in this house! No fucking way! I will go out there and risk death rather than let that happen!" She stood and slid the jacket into the corner. "You agree with me, don't you?"

He glanced at the door, right after Vlad's door could be heard shutting. "Death or life… death or life… death… or… life…"

"I choose death. He's not doing this under my roof with my best friend while I'm here. Now, you're either with me or against me. If you're with me, you'll stand up and get away from my door. If you're against me, go sit on the bed while I go on a suicide mission." Alex put her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow at him.

Jason opened the door for her, "After you, and if I die – please put on my tombstone 'This is Alex's Fault'."

"Will do." Alex stood in front of Vlad's door with a glare. If she had to, she would blackmail him, and she wasn't afraid to do that. Without hesitation, she pounded on the bedroom door. "Dumbass, I know you're home! Open the fucking door!" As what she was doing set in on her, she turned to Jason. "I love you, don't forget that. And if you manage to live through this, just know I've always had your best interest at heart and I love you."

"I hate you so much right now."

Vlad opened the door, "What the fuck do you want, brat?"

Smiling sweetly at him, she stepped closer. "New policy – no being alone with girlfriend in my house if that girlfriend is best friend to me. If you do, please keep the door open at all times and keep a safe distance. If you have any questions or object the policy, please leave a message at the last door on your right, asshole."

"If you think we're going to have sex, I know better." His arms crossed, "You poke holes in all my condoms, I'm not going to risk Ravan getting pregnant."

"We saw you with a new box!" Jason called at him.

"I haven't bought any condoms in two weeks." Vlad started to shut his door.

Alex stuck her foot in the door. "Oh nice try Vovka. I _know _you bought them three times last week and twice this week." As soon as what she had said hit her, she stared at the door wide eyed. Oh, well this was going to go over well.

Ravan gently pushed passed Vlad, "Okay, for one, I'm not having sex with your brother. We've been dating for, like, a week. For two, he didn't buy condoms today, Jason." She held up the two boxes from the bag, "he bought me gummybears and airheads. Now, if you guys don't mind, we're trying to watch _The Conspiracy_." Her eyes baring into their beings, trying to remind them of her just saving them about five minutes ago.

"Are those the good kind?" Jason asked nervously.

"Yes, I bought her candy." Vlad pinched the bridge of his nose, "Arrest me, _Alexandria_. I bought my girlfriend her favorite candies, how terrible of me."

Holding her hands up in defeat, Alex smiled and stepped away from the door. "Alright, alright. But just so you know," She smirked at Vlad and grabbed Jason's hand to go to the living room. If it was going to be free for the night, that's where she was staying. "I know of something pretty terrible in your closet, Vovka. Have fun and don't get any STD's Ravan!" She smiled wickedly at Vlad and the look on his face. She had him by the balls with his closet.


	11. Love The Way You Lie pt 1

**This chapter has two parts, but just because it is a two parter does not mean they will be posted back-to-back. I'll try to put them more closely together, but the posting will most likely stay the same (maybe). **

**PFC. Awesomeness: It was funny. It was almost funnier to write it! Alias and I laughed and commented on it the whole time we wrote it. I got the idea from a friend, who actually did poke wholes in his brothers condoms but he did tell him after the fact. It was still a funny story. **

**As always, Ravan belongs to Quiet Alias, who is not on fanfiction, and Alex belongs to me. John MacTavish is called Jason in this stroy, because two John's got confusing. And for those who don't know, Gareth is Gaz. Enjoy!**

**OoO**

Students laughed, talked, and danced around a large room that was only lit by color changing lights, giving privacy to the dance. Alex, Ravan, Simon, Vlad, Yuri and others of their little group were sitting at a table in the corner, talking and laughing here and there. It had been a month and a half since Vlad and Ravan had gotten together, and everyone at the table still hadn't quite gotten over it, but they were putting up with it.

Alex listened to the conversations going on at their table, but she watched as other students had fun dancing, or what was called dancing. Simon wouldn't go out there with her and Vlad wouldn't go with Ravan, so she hadn't really been out there much. She had an ache to burn off her energy and go have some fun, but she wasn't going out there alone.

She sighed and looked across the table at Yuri, who had come dateless. He said it would get him more girls if he went alone, but so far she had only seen him dance with three. He sent her smile and through the dim lighting, she could make out him going cross eyed, which made her giggle.

"What's so funny, Ally?" Alex smiled at Simon and shook her head. "Nothing, just thinking."

"Yeah, she was just thinking, Simon. Does everything she does have to be questioned? That's the third time tonight I've heard you ask her something like that. She's a free women and can do whatever the hell she pleases." Alex raised an eyebrow at her brother. He was in a pissy mood.

Ravan looked at Vlad, "Can you not do this tonight? I did not going searching for three hours with Alex to find my dress for you to start acting like this." Her eyebrows furrowed, "Do you know how many dresses I tried on? Thirty! Thirty of these things to find the perfect one. Not just the perfect one, but the perfect one to match you, _baby_." Her head was already beginning to ache. She found the perfect dress for him. _For him_. A tight, ones shoulder, satin darth-mouth green dress, fitting nicely on her figure. She had to add on an ultramarine blue ribbon around her waist to tie this outfit with hers. She didn't have Alex spend twenty minutes on her hair, and she didn't spend fifteen minutes on her makeup for this night to be mucked up. He was wearing a matching charcoal suit with a dark blue undershirt and a forest green tie.

Gary nodded, "C'mon, guys. Let's just have fun tonight!"

Simon stopped glaring at Vlad for the moment, "Yes… fun…"

Feeling the tension, Alex stood, her short, red, and strapless asymmetrical dress that was ruffled at its edges decorated with beading and sequins in an intricate pattern at her chest swayed gently with her movements. Her usually straight black hair was curled and pinned off to the side, courtesy of her mother and Ravan, and red eye shadow decorated her eyelids, making a different popping effect for her emerald and sapphire eyes. "I'm going to get something to drink. Call me back over when you all have things straightened out." She looked at Simon and Vlad specifically.

Jason stood with her. "Need some company?"

Vlad glared at him, "No, she doesn't need any company. Now sit." Dances made him edgy, especially when his sister was in such a short and strapless dress that was fitting to her body. He could see boys, seniors, juniors, and sophomores, all watching her. It bothered the absolute shit out of him. How could Simon not see it? Was he blind?

Ravan rolled her eyes, "I'm coming with you, Alex." Ripping her hand away from Vlad's, she linked arms with Alex as they made their way towards the punch.

"Can we all act civil for one fucking thing? Just one." Gary snapped, "All Alex and Ravan want is a fun night with friends, maybe a little dancing with their boyfriends. But no, you two are acting like morons."

He stood, "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to go ask Candice to dance with me." Following in suit, he stormed away from the table.

Vlad was listening, but he wasn't paying any attention to them, only to the guys staring his sister, and now Ravan, as they walked to get something to drink. It angered him. Simon was sitting there acting as if everything was okay, but in reality half the guys here were looking to get into his girlfriends pants. One look from Vlad and the guys watching looked away, but only from Ravan. Looking back at Simon, he saw he was preoccupied with Jason and Gareth.

"How can you just sit there and think everything's okay?" He looked at Alex and saw two of this year's seniors talking to her. "How can you sit there while other guys are trying to get into her pants? One of them could be getting her a drink with the date-rape drug for god's sake!" That thought alone was killing him. He knew Ravan would have no problem with other guys – at the mention her boyfriend's name was Vladimir Makarov, guys backed off. But if Alex tried to drop Simon's name, it didn't do her much good.

Gareth looked at him, "Mate, guys are going to talk to them. Alex is a good girl and very loyal. All Ravan has to do is drop your name, it scares off _most _of the others."

"He's right, Vlad." Simon looked over at Alex, "Besides, I'm going to let her cool down a bit before I try going over there. I don't want to piss her off and make her storm out, do you? Same thing with Ravan, and our moods haven't been helping. So, how about you calm down and we all relax."

"Plus, we can see them clear as day," Jason shrugged, taking another sip from his drink.

It didn't better Vlad's mood at all. In fact, he felt himself getting angrier as Foley went to talk to his sister. He was leaning against the table and looking at his sister in a very inappropriate way and was a little too close for it to be considered friendly. As loyal as he knew Alex to be, it was the guys that talked to her he didn't trust. Each one of them read rapist to him, no matter who it was.

"What did you even do to piss my sister off anyways? Don't say it's me, because she was in a good mood until she got in the car with you."

"Oh, shut yer fuckin' yap." Simon snapped, "it was both of us. What about Ravan, huh? She was so fucking happy to finally get that stupid dress for this stupid dance and you completely brushed off."

"Hey," Gareth growled, "Ravan's dress is beautiful and she didn't spend all that time looking for you to call it stupid. Nor for Vlad to ignore it. No wonder those two are in such amazing moods when they've got boyfriends like you."

"Now you're going to jump on me?" Simon asked.

"No, I'm just getting sick and tired of your guys' bitching and moaning. You two have been acting like someone spit in your milk this morning since the dance began. Why don't you two try _not _being selfish bastards and actually think of those two." He pointed over at them. Ravan had chased Foley off, so she and Alex were standing alone. Talking quietly, and standing as far off into the corner as possible. "They just wanted a fun night, but no. You two had to ruin it." He stood up, "I'm going to go check on John, he's been cornered by Laticia all night."

"Not to add on, but…" Jason looked at them, both of their eyes getting ready to rip him to pieces. "…You guys haven't said a thing about the way they look…"

Yuri could see this was going nowhere. Vlad was getting more pissed off every second and Simon was getting the same way. He sighed and stood from the table. He was going to join Alex for a moment and get something for this sweet tooth. "Please, don't have too much fun while I'm gone."

Vlad growled at him. "Oh shut your trap and go find a damn tramp!" Yuri put his hands up and left the table to see how Alex and Ravan were doing. He wasn't going to listen to this when there were two lovely young girls who needed his company and needed to be cheered up. Cheering people up were his specialty.

Before Yuri could get over to Alex and Ravan, the music was cut off and a slight feedback from a microphone filled the gym. "Sorry to interrupt your boogying," he laughed.

"Oh, slit my throat now." Ravan dejectedly stated.

"If you have a shovel on hand, please hit me over the head with it and bury my body in my yard." Alex set her punch down and leaned against the table. Mr. Snyder trying to be cool was like her father trying to cook – impossible.

"It's time to announce our Royalty! May the following students please join me on stage for crowning! For King and Queen, our candidates are…" He opened an envelope and just stared at it for a minute. "Ravannah Sanderson and Vladimir Makarov… Where are the rest of the candidates?"  
The usually over-pumped gym teacher called out from the back, "Rest of them were too much of a bunch of pansies to run against them. There's your Queen and King, you sacks of sweat!"  
Ravan made her way to the stage, standing next to Vlad. She was still upset with the way he had been acting, "Now, you'll have a crown to match your over-inflated ego." She muttered, a crown of her own being placed on her head. Both of them handed a scepter and a sash.

"And now you have a crown to match your firey attitude and lovely dress, my queen."

Alex watched the anger start to disperse from Vlad. Maybe it was being in a group of people that made him like that, but he looked a little better. But why did he have to be such an ass today of all today's? He could be an asshole any other time, but he picked tonight to do it. But she clapped her hands and smiled at Ravan. "Good job sweety!"

Mr. Snyder ushered the two of them off to the left of the stage, "Now, let's get this underway!' He quickly unfolded the next envelope, "May the following students please report to the stage for Prince and Princess, Simon Riley and… Alexandria Makarov? What is going on here?"

"Our school is full of slack-jawed morons!" The gym teacher yelled.

"That is enough, Mr. Shwartz!" Mr. Snyder snapped.

Simon watched as Alex made her way up here, they weren't going to get crowns – but they were going to get a tiara and a small crown. Along with a sash. As they placed the tiara on Alex's head, Simon smiled at her, "You look gorgeous, darling." He slightly fixed her tiara.

"Way to go, Alex. Now we can all match as the unopposed Royalty," Ravan joked with her.

Alex giggled at Simon and wrapped her arm through his, and she knew Vlad was watching, but she placed a light kiss on his lips. "Thank you, Prince Riley."

She looked at Ravan. "Mr. Shwartz made me feel loved up there, how about you?"

"He's just mad because his wife ran off with his sister," she shrugged, making the other three laugh.  
Mr. Snyder sighed, "Not even going to build up anymore, Natalie Hernandez and Viktor Khristenko, please come be crowned for Dutch and Dutchess?"

"DUTCHESS?!" Natalie screeched as she was given the smallest tiara, "I GOT DUTCHESS?! THOSE TWO GOT QUEEN AND PRINCESS, LEAVING ME WITH THE LOWEST RANK?!"

"Face it, Nat," Ravan looked over at her, "fake tits and tan skin can only get you so far in life."  
Natalie let out a loud huff, but she knew better than to mouth off to Ravan now. Not after what happened to Quincy, "This isn't fair!"

Alex chuckled and looked at her brother, who was amused. Maybe he had recovered his good natured side and wouldn't be an asshole the rest of the night. Simon seemed to of gotten his shit together or was at least acting like it. At least he was trying. If Vlad didn't start trying in a couple of minutes, she was going to tear him a new one.

With a sigh she leaned against Simon. "Of all nights, why does everyone get pissy tonight?"

"Dunno, maybe they're PMSing." Ravan walked off stage, "I never got my drink…"

Down from the stage, Vlad smiled at his sister. "Congratulations, princess suits you nicely, your attitude that is." She rolled her eyes at her brother. "Go bark up someone else's tree, please."

Vlad shrugged, "Just congratulating my princess sister and," he looked Simon up and down, "and the second rate company."

"Better than being a pompous ass," Simon glared.

"I'm not dealing with this right now," Alex pushed passed Simon to catch up with Ravan.

"Now look what you did, you fucking loon." Simon growled.

John quickly made his way over, "Whatever you two are thinking about doing, don't."

Gary nearly tripped running over, "Don't you dare fuck up this night for my sister and Alex," he jutted his finger at them, "Take your pissing contest outside!"

Vlad glared at Gary then at Simon. "With pleasure, Gary."

Yuri watched as Vlad walked out of the dance, Simon not far behind and a couple others followed, though he wasn't sure who. Even he, the best friend, didn't know what stick Vlad had up his ass tonight. He seemed fine over at his house, then he got in the car and it was like a complete mood change.

Seeing Gary walking over, he caught his arm. "What's up the those two? Please tell me they're not doing what I think they're doing." Even Vlad wasn't stupid enough to start a fight here of all places… or was he?

"Dunno, don't care. All I know is they're not ruining Alex and Ravan's night," Gary pulled his arm away,

"Although, they're probably about to—"

A loud commotion began outside, people chanting 'Fight! Fight! Fight!"


	12. Love The Way You Lie pt 2

**I know, I'm a terrible person for making ya'll wait a week for the second part of a chapter. Bad me. But I'm putting it up now!**

**PFC Awesomeness: This is not soon-ish, I know lol. Vlad and Simon have this little feud that goes back awhile and I have to stop there because I'm not allowed to talk about it until it comes out, which it will. Considering Vlad is Alex's brother, and Simon is her boyfriend, shit (excuse my french) is going to happen between them.**

**I'm going to shut up now.**

**As always, Ravan belongs to Quiet Alias, who is not on fanfiction but another website, and Alex belongs to me. Jason is John MacTavish, and Gareth is Gaz. Enjoy!**

**OoO**

Ravan watched all the chaperones took off towards the door, "Vlad and Simon." Her teeth gritted.

Gareth stood behind her, "Are you sure?"

"Do you see them?"

"…No."

Alex shook her head. She specifically asked Simon not to give into Vlad tonight, yet she could hear the commotion outside, though she was choosing to ignore it like many others. But she was having a hard time doing that. She was hurt by Vlad for being an asshole and hurting Ravan's feelings tonight, and she was mad at Simon for giving into Vlad's teasing.

She looked down and grabbed a chocolate cupcake, the only thing that made her feel better when she was upset. She wanted to go over to Ravan and see how she was, but her spirits were too down to even walk. She felt someone come up behind her and she hoped it was Simon, but the hands that she saw were not Simon's. "Can I help you, Yuri?" She tried not to let her voice crack.

Yuri took Alex's hand as quickly pulled her towards the back exit, "C'mon, we're not going to let fucktard and asshole ruin this night. I can still salvage," he look back at her, grinning a toothy smile.

That smile still made her melt. Yuri and his charm still had a strong effect on her. She wasn't going to let Simon and Vlad ruin her night, so why not go with Yuri? She smiled up at Yuri, "Lead the way, Mr. Yurkov."

Gareth looked at Ravan as she stared dead at the floor, she knew Vlad was a jackass – but Simon was more behaved than this. She shoved her drink back to the table, and began to look for Gary. Letting him know that she was going to go home, "Are you okay, love?"

"No," she sniffled, "this night was a total disaster. All I wanted was one night to feel beautiful and like a princess, but I can't even have that."

He took her hand, "You're not a princess… That crown says you're a Queen, and if your King is going to be a dick, then I guess a substitute King is in order." He started pulling her to the door that led to the school.

"Gareth, where are we going?"

"To the AV room," he glanced back, smiling.

Blush rushed up to her face, "G-Gareth, we can't go there."

"Not for that, sweetheart. I respect relationships. I thought that you and I could hop on a computer and screw up Monday's prepare news letter."

"That could be fun," she lightly smiled. If there was one thing that Gareth Ravensdale knew what to do it was how to cheer her up. They quickly ran down the halls, laughing every time Gareth had to keep her from slipping in her damn heels. He pulled the key out from around his neck, something he always had on him and unlocked the door. They went straight to the teacher's desk, he sat in the swivel chair. Ravan sat on the desk next to the computer, "This is going to be so much fun."

"Too right," he booted up the computer. These school computers took a moment, which was perfect.

"Ravan, may I ask you something?"

"Yes, Gaz?"

His smile grew, but faded. "W… why of all people did you pick Vlad?"

"Well," her usual argument wasn't going to work very well tonight, that asshole was out scrapping with Simon. "Usually he's attentive and sweet to me, you know…"

"Have you two…"

"No, I haven't done that since… well…"

Gareth made eye-contact with her, "Since us?"

"Shush," she put a finger on his lips, "I haven't told anyone about that, not even my own brother."

"It's just us, love. Everyone else is probably watching the fight." He rubbed her arm, "Did you… did you ever regret me?"

"Why on Earth would you think that?" Ravan looked dead at him as he twiddled his thumbs.

"Because of what I said… the no relationship thing and all that…"

"Of course not, Gareth. You didn't want a relationship like I wanted, but we were still friends… a little more than friends…"

A somewhat pervy smile sprawled across his face, "That secret closet has so many uses…"

More blush raced to her face, "Oh, quiet," she playfully hit him. "Or your car…"

"Your room at midnight…"

"The den when my family wasn't home…"

"Oh, God," he chuckled, "Gary almost caught us. I thought I was going to have to hit him so bad that he acquired amnesia."

"But he's an idiot and decided to try Tequila with Simon."

Gareth just admired her, "You really do look gorgeous tonight."

She straightened his tie, "And you are one fabulous man."

"You bet your arse I am," he flexed slightly, "you know you miss this."

Her giggle sounded weird when it was masked with embarrassment, "I never denied that, but I'm off-limits."

"For now," he signed into the computer, "you two aren't going to last forever – it's just not possible."

Ravan looked away, knowing that was the truth. Especially with the way that fucker has been acting lately. "Let's fuck up this news letter, huh?"

Gareth grinned at her, "Of course, sweetheart. Can't forget the reason we came here." He typed away, smiling big.

**OoO**

It was chilly out by the lake, the place Yuri had taken her. She sat in the back of the pick-up truck, leaning against the metal and occasionally throwing a rock into the water, Yuri mirroring her moves. They sat in a comfortable silence, with her curled up against him for warmth. Simon crossed her mind, but he had chosen a fight with Vlad rather than having a great night with her, and he had been an ass in the car, which was very unlike him.

She sighed and laid her head on Yuri's shoulder, and he in turn laid his head on top of hers. "Feels like old times, doesn't it Al? It feels like–"

"Like we never stopped dating?"

Yuri chuckled, making her body vibrate. "Yeah, like we never stopped dating. This entire setting is like one of our dates."

She would have blushed, but she was utterly comfortable with Yuri's teasing. "You know, I never did tell anyone, not even Ravan. Did you?"

"I never break my word, Al." He cringed, as if an unpleasant memory had returned. She knew very well what he was thinking about. "You know, I know it's late, but I do accept your apology."

He smiled. "You didn't have to tell me you accept it, I knew. I knew every day."

"Then why didn't you say anything?" She turned to him, her legs folded. He shrugged, and with a sad smile looked at her. "You looked happy, with him. You could be in the public eye with Simon, you were happy, and I just wanted you to be happy, that's what I've always wanted. So I didn't say anything."

She stared at him, lost for words, and he continued. "Hell, I didn't even think you wanted back in! I hit you and I yelled at you and I deserve this!"

"Yuri," She tentatively touched his shoulder and he immediately calmed down. "You hit me once, you yelled at me once – that can be forgiven. I just thought you were done with me, that I wasn't good enough for you anymore."

He smiled at her. "I was done with you, but only because you were and still are too good for me. Any woman who accepts the apology of a man who abused her is too good for him."

"I think it's the other way around." She leaned against him like before, but this time he put an arm around her. "I miss talking to you. You always cheered me up and made me laugh."

"I miss you, _all _of you." Now she turned red. What was she supposed to say to that? So she said the first thing that came to mind. "I… I miss you too. Most of you."

He grinned, but toned it down as he looked directly at her. "See, this is what I like. You're carefree, cute, and say what comes to your mind, no thought required. Can you be like that with him?"

She shrugged. "Sometimes. Vlad's kind of a cock-block, you know?"

He glared ahead of him. "Oh, I know."

"Oh stop it! You're in a good mood!"

"I was until you just started talking sex and _Simon_."

"Oh so you want to talk about sex with me?"

He smirked. "Yes, that would do. I wouldn't mind talking about that at all."

She playfully hit him. "Asshole."

He looked up at the night sky. "You want to try something risky?"

She looked at him. "What?"

"A friendship, like normal people – you and me."

It would be nice to have someone else to turn to besides her gang, someone who understood what she had gone through as a child and someone who actually listened to her words. "You had me at risky, Yuri."

**OoO**

Where the fuck was she? He had looked around the entire dance room and hadn't caught one sight of Ravan! He was tired, sore, and needed to get home. Worst yet, his girlfriend went missing on him, he was worried about her, and his sister had gone fucking MIA! No one had seen her since he left with Simon, neither of them actually. The guy actually put up one hell of fight.

He's was starting to aggravated. He needed to get home and blow off some steam before he had another episode. If he hadn't heard Simon talking to his sister about their damn sex life, he might be fine now. She wasn't even 16 yet! And she wouldn't be for a good while! The thought just infuriated him. He wouldn't be leaving those two alone ever again. And if she wanted to go over to his house, he would tell their mother what she'd be doing with him over there. Then she wouldn't be going anywhere.

"Damn it! Foley, have you see Ravan?" He walked up to Foley, a good friend of his, or sort of a good friend.

Fredrick stepped away from the group of friends he had away from Vlad, a group of people that he had found too annoying to hang out with. He cleared his throat, "In fact I have," he took a step back from him, "Joseph saw her and that techie nerd dude sneak into the school. My bet is they went to the AV room. You are dating a complete nerd, you know?"

His jaw clenched. They went to the AV room alone. He glared intensely at Fredrick, making him step back. "I know she's a fucking nerd but she's _my _fucking nerd, got it?" He stormed away from Foley, catching a glimpse of a bruised and bloodied Simon Riley by the doors – served him right. He went through another set of doors, these leading into the school.

He knew he had been an ass, but leaving with another man? And alone at that? That was too far for him. At least he would own up to being a dick, Simon on the other hand wouldn't. He tried to shake the anger from his mind as he turned down the hallway to the AV room, and as soon as he did, he heard laughter. Ravan and another man's laughter, one that sounded familiar. He paused in the doorway of the AV room to see Ravan sitting on a desk and Gareth next to her, rather close at that. Not sure what to do, he stood there, watching them interact, waiting to see what would happen next.

Ravan clapped her hands, "Oooh! I know, make an announcement that this Thursday is 'Feel Bad For Mr. Shwartz Day'! Everyone brings him a red rose to help soothe the pain that his wife left his insane ass."

Gareth's laughter got louder, "Oh, that is brilliant! Then Friday can be…" he looked at the door, "Hey, Vlad."

She looked back at him, crossing her arms. "So, are you done beating on Simon? Rather that, are you done being an asshole?"

A growl sounded in his chest, and he winced. Simon had gotten him pretty good there. "The little fucker had it coming! You blame his fucking ass for my attitude! And no, I'm not done being a fucking asshole!"

He stepped into the room, his eyes on Gareth. "Get the hell away from my girlfriend, first and final warning."

Gareth stood up, a couple inches taller than Vlad. "Look, mate, you already have been in a fight tonight, I don't suggest looking for one from someone who can destroy you not only physically, but someone who can fuck with your school grades so that you never pass." He glared down at him, "I don't take any threat from you, so I suggest you not trying to be domineering. I brought Ravan back here to cheer her up after you and Simon ruined her night. Before you get your panties in a twist, all we've been doing is screwing with the news-letter to piss off Dragov."

Ravan looked at Vlad, "Running off with other men? Like Gareth said, he was fixing the night _you _destroyed. I'm my own person, I can hang out with whatever friend I damn will please. You do not own me, Vladimir." Her finger pushed against his chest.

Vlad grabbed her wrist, but looked at Gareth. "I don't give fuck if you mess with my grades or not – go right on fucking head!" He looked down at Ravan. "We're leaving, whether you want to or not. You can chew my ass out all you want in the fucking car, but we're leaving." He didn't care if Alex was with him or not – she could catch a ride home with her boyfriend or Jason when she decided to leave, wherever she was.

"Ugh, I can't stand you sometimes!" She yelled at him as he pulled her through the halls of the school. Each time they came to a door, it ended up being slammed against the wall when he opened it. He ignored all his friends as they tried to stop to congratulating winning the brawl against Simon. When they got to his car, he opened her door and shoved her into the passenger's seat. She didn't open her mouth until they were down the street from her house. "All I wanted was a nice night. One nice night where you didn't act like a giant fucker, or act like you owned me. You do this every fucking time I try to talk to one of my guy friends. Here's a newsflash, Vlad, you don't own me. I am my own person, so if I want to talk to Andy or Gerald or Jason or Gareth or whoever the fuck else – I will!"

"Not if the fucking guy wants in your damn pants! Or in this case up your fucking dress!" He slammed to a stop on the brakes, making them both lurch forward. "And don't say you don't know what the fuck I'm talking about! I saw the way he was looking at you!"

He tore out of the car, and somehow through his anger, was able to open the passenger's side door and let Ravan out. "And keep in mind I'm not the only at fault here! Blame that ass of a friend of yours, _Riley_."

"Yes, because Simon is the root of all your fucking problems, Vlad!" She screamed in his face as she got out of the car. "It has nothing to do with the fact that you're an untrusting asshole who fucking jumps the gun more often than acting like a normal person!" Her heels clicked against the walkway all the way up to the door, him following her closely. "You don't even fucking care about anyone but yourself in the long haul!" Her eyes caught neighbors coming out of their houses, so she quickly opened the door, "Fuck off and go home! Better yet, fuck off and go to a class where you can get a better personality!"

He caught his foot in the doorway and followed her inside. "Oh, I'm sorry I care about my girlfriend and what happens to her!" He followed her upstairs to her room. "And may I remind you, you knew about my personality when we fucking started dating, so don't act like you had no fucking idea of what I was like!"

"I didn't know you were going to treat me like a fucking object!" She kicked her heels off, each one colliding with the wall. "I don't care how much you care about me, you do not own me. I am a person, not an object. And let _me _remind _you_, you used to act like a fucking sane person around me up until these past two weeks! I don't know what crawled up your ass and died, but I'm getting fucking sick of it!"

He cracked his neck. "You weren't letting certain men getting handsy with you two fucking weeks ago!" He paused as her last sentence caught up to him. "Sick of what? Sick of my personality or sick of this relationship, Ravan?"

Ravan put her hand on her right hip, actually thinking hard on what she was going to say. They had a stare down, she getting a good look at him. His hair disheveled, his eyes piercing into hers. His tie had been undone, perhaps in the fight. "You know what? I'm sick of you, your personality, this relationship and everything in between." Her voice calm, "I think it's time for us to see other people. Maybe you can find a girl who won't mind being treated like she's owned by some pissy little bitch like you!"

That was the end of the line for him. Stepping into her room, he took her wrist and slammed her against the wall, holding her wrists at her sides and her body against the wall. "Listen here you bitch – _you _listen to _me_. You are _my _fucking girlfriend and I won't have any of this damn disobedience shit!"

Her breathing picked up slight, "Vlad, you're hurting my wrist," she tried pull her arm away. Each pull made him tighten his hand more, her eyes squinting from flinching. "I-I don't think you understand how relationships work, I'm not going to listen to anything you say." She finally looked at him, "Now, let go of me, get out of my house and out of my life." Her voice had to remain quiet, because if she yelled – it probably would've fallen apart.

He smirked. "You can't make me – I'm my own damn person and I'm not going to let some smartass little girl make a fool out of me in front of the whole damn school!" In one fluid motion, he let her wrists go and raised his hand, smacking her sharply across the face. "You're not going to make fucking dumbass out of me, do you understand!?"

Ravan's hand slowly rose to her face, her fingers gently placing against the now stinging flesh. Vlad is a violent person, but she had never seen him be violent with a girl. He didn't even seem like the type to hit women. Her eyes watered slightly from the shock of his hand making her head snap to the right when it collided with her cheek. "Y… you can't hit me and expect me to just stay," her voice cracked, "I'm going to call Gary right now," she pushed him back.

He twisted her arm around into an unnatural position across her back, and roughly shoved her up against the wall. "You aren't calling Gary – you aren't calling _anyone_. Especially not any of the other _men _in your life." His grip on her arm tightened at the thought of Gareth earlier.

"Vlad, you're hurting me!" she cried out loudly, "I'll wait for Gary to get home, then. Get off me!"

"No use in trying to move, _sweetheart_, or trying to threaten me by telling your brother, because you're not going to tell him anything that just happened."

"I'm going to tell Gary," she squirmed, "or he'll see the marks you're leaving. Then he's going to tell Simon, and Simon's going to tell Alex. Simon is also going to tell Jason, who will tell John, who will tell Gareth, who will tell Andy and he'll tell Gerald that you fucking hurt my arm!" She screamed, trying hard to get away from him. "It was a mistake to date you! I should've listened."

He chuckled darkly, "I dare you to tell them – see what happens, to you that is, _sweetheart_. You aren't going to tell anyone, or you're going to get a lot worse than just a little slap on the wrist."

"Fine," he let her up. She looked him in the face, "I'm not going to tell anyone about this, but I am through seeing you. Tell the school whatever you want. That I was whiney and needy. Or I was too big of a bitch. Or you had your way with me and dumped me. I don't care, but I don't want to date you anymore."

"You can't just walk away from me!" He grabbed her again, and pulled her back towards him. "You aren't leaving me, do you understand? You aren't telling anyone what happened here and _we _are _not _through."

"I don't want to be with you anymore," she had never seen this before. Not even in their school, and she had to admit – their school is pretty fucked up. She couldn't see herself with Vlad anymore, not after tonight. She's actually kind of glad Gary got locked out of their house and needed her to come save him the night she was going to have sex with Vlad for the first time. Never did get back to it, that's probably the only good thing she could think of right now. "You can't make me date you when I don't want to, that's not how life works. What am I supposed to do? Carry on our relationship like I'm a willing party in it? I can't do that after all of this," she gestured to the forming bruise on her wrist from his fingers, "I'd hate to see how my face is swelling right now, you ass."

His jaw tightened. "Fine, just leave! Leave like my mom did for a year and left me and Alex alone with that fucker I call my father so he could beat the shit out of us instead of her! Leave like my father did and broke my mother's heart!" Anger blazed in his eyes, but also sadness.

Her face became soft at the thought of what they had to deal with when their mother ran off. The screaming no longer echoing through the house while she and Alex hid in her room, but all the subtle, hidden bruises decorating him instead. "Vlad…" she led him to sit down on her bed. She wasn't sure what to do, this wasn't really his fault. He had been raised with his parents hitting each other, he probably doesn't know any better. "You can't treat me like this, you can't hit me when I don't listen to you," her voice soft, trying to stand her ground. It was hard with his eyes looking at her, with the look of defeat.

He looked at her, but shook his head and looked away. "You don't understand, you haven't had to fight most of your childhood to keep yourself, your mother, and your sister alive. You haven't had to watch your entire family fall apart and leave you with nowhere to go." He put his head in his hands and rubbed his face. No one understood what that man did to him – only Alex and Yuri understood. It was either fight or flight, and because he feared for his sister and mothers life, he chose fight every. Single. Time.

Ravan wrapped her arms under his to hug him. Her back, face and wrist did hurt – but she had forgotten a huge portion of his life. She used to pride herself on seeing people as 3D characters, rather than 2D. But that's exactly what she was doing right now, and how was it fair? Her hand rubbed the back of his head, "Vladimir, I'm not _him_. It's not like that with us," she pulled away. She placed both of her hands on both sides of his face, "This can't be a regular thing. I'm not going to leave you, but this can't keep going. I'm not a punching bag."

He leaned his face against her hand. "Please don't leave Ravan, please." He had been reduced to pathetic begging, but it seemed to work in making her stay. He wanted… needed her to stay.

"I'm not," she gently kissed him, "promise you're not going to do this again."

Leaning his forehead against her, he closed his eyes. "I'll try not to do it again."


	13. Liar Liar

**A week has passed and I'm forcing myself to post this now, or I might forget and then there won't be a chapter this week. I'm going to make this short and sweet because I'm really really tired (like, passing out from exhaustion) and my contacts are out so I'm blind. But I did manage to go through and make any spelling corrections during this chapter, which is very long - bare with me - and is not split up like the last one. I apologize for the length of it, but please bare with me. (After checking, this is the longest chapter. No more really long stuff like this. Some will be kind of close, but not like this.)  
**

**Prinzessin Mia: Yes, exactly what we thought while writing it. One little face can say a lot lol**

**PFC. Awesomeness: I think everyone in this story is messed up in some way or another, but others will be revealed as screwed up later (Not naming names). Vlad and Alex's back story has been kind of hinted before, but now I think it's more clear and for those who didn't find it clear - Vlad and Alex were abused by the father from a very young age. I'm glad you liked this chapter!**

**As always, Ravan belongs to Quiet Alias, who is not on fanfiction but on another site that I'm going to put on my page soon, and Alex belongs to me. Jason is John MacTavish because two John's was confusing. And to clarify - Gareth is Gaz. Enjoy the new chapter!**

**OoO**

Time seemed to have flown by last night. One minute she was having a friendly conversation with Yuri, and the next she was waking up in the back of his dad's pick-up with him. Now she had to get back into her house. Her phone was dead and she knew there probably had to be a million messages on her phone, and she felt bad if she had made anyone worry. But hey – she had a good night with Yuri. Lots of laughing, talking, rock throwing, and she even got her royalty dance. That man knew how to treat a lady, but she already knew that.

What she didn't know though was how to get into the house at ten in the morning with Yuri without being seen by her brother. Walking in with Yuri – after leaving abruptly last night and not telling anyone where she was going – would look awfully suspicious. Although nothing happened between them, her brother would lie and tell Simon something had happened. She didn't need that drama in her life and she didn't want to lose her boyfriend.

The truck came to a stop in front of her house and she sighed. "Well, any ideas on how to get in? You were always an expert at sneaking into my house."

"I suggest the front door," he gestured to the strangely empty driveway, "seems like Vlad didn't make it home last night. Maybe off looking for wherever Ravan fled to. I highly doubt she stuck around while he and Simon played Whack-A-Moron with each other." Yuri loved Vlad like a brother, but what he did last night was beyond his normal stupidity.

She rolled her eyes. "Please don't remind me of last night," she turned to him nervously. "You want to come in for a bit and get something to eat? I know you probably don't want to go home quite yet given your life at home. You can grab some of Vlad's sweats and we can hang out in the living room or something?" It was going against the whole not looking suspicious thing, but she didn't think it would look as bad if her and Yuri were just hanging out in the living room. She could come up with a story for that.

"Eh, why not?" Yuri parked the car in his usual spot, the only other empty space on the driveway. He followed her inside, muttering something about making popcorn under her breath. While she did that, he made his way to Vlad's room and grabbed one of the few pairs of sweats he had. The thought of being a jackass and changing downstairs with Alex went through his mind, but the thought of Vlad coming home during him changing kept him from doing so. After he had changed into the sweats, he sat down on the couch next to Alex. She had already found something to watch, "What do you plan on telling Vlad?"

Changed out of her dress and into a pair of gray shorts and a tank top, she put her feet on Yuri's lap. "I'll tell him I came home last night _alone_, and you stopped by this morning looking for him. And while you waited for him to come home, and me being the amazing person that I am, decided to keep you company." She wiggled her feet on his lap. "I know you know my feet are ticklish, but please rub them. I sort of slept in heels."

"You are strange sometimes," he looked at her, gently massaging her left heel. The sound of a car door slamming startled him slightly. Soon after that, instead of marching into his house like he usually did, he opened the door slowly. Walking in weakly, no confidence to be found. "Hey, friend," Yuri looked at Vlad. He was pinkish around the eyes, like he hadn't slept in years.

Vlad paused in the hallway, dumbfounded and drained. Since when were Yuri and Alex so close? He hadn't expected to see his best friend and his sister lounging on the couch so comfortably together. "Hey, Yuri… what's going on here?" He stepped into the living room, watching them closely.

Alex smiled. "Yuri stopped by looking for you this morning, so I was keeping him company until you got home. And using him to massage my feet."

Yuri nodded, "How'd that brawl go?"

Even when drained, nothing just snuck passed Vlad. "Why are you wearing my sweats, Yuri?" He lowly growled.

"I'll tell you why I'm wearing your sweats when you tell me why you're home so late, _dear_." Yuri smirked at Vlad.

Alex rolled her eyes. Yuri was such a smartass sometimes. Sometimes it was a good thing, sometimes it was a bad thing, and right now, she wasn't sure which way it was heading.

"Because I fucking can and you know better than be alone with Alex," he barked. He threw his suit jacket onto the chair, "You don't ever be alone with her, do you understand, Yuri?!" He tried to get his normal anger going, but a small _clank _was heard. Coolly, he walked over and picked up a snapped, metal necklace chain. In between his index fingers was dagger, about three inches long. A present from Ravan for his thirteenth birthday, though he never bothered to get her any sort of gift for anything. He tried to keep his eyebrows from dipping, but he couldn't. He just stared at the necklace that Simon had broken in their fight. All of last night began to bang inside of his head, especially with the necklace reminding him of Ravan. And that they were almost just Ravan and Vlad again, not together.

Alex knew her brother better than anyone else, besides Yuri. She knew when he was angry and not to be messed with or upset and needed something. This was one of those times she knew he needed something. Her first thing, in almost any situation at home, was to offer food or drink. "Vlad, do you want something to drink? Hot chocolate? Maybe an ICEE? A beer? Yuri and I can go out and get you something if you'd like?" She ignored his comments about Yuri and her being alone – his wellbeing was her concern. If Vlad wasn't happy, no one was happy.

He tried to find more anger, "What you can do is tell Simon I'm going to snap one of his laptops over my knee," he held out the broken necklace. He wouldn't even know if Alex would even remember where it came from. "He broke this hoping that it'd get to me, and guess what? It did. I've had this necklace for four years from…" he sat down, all his will to pick a fight gone for the moment.

She knew it was risky, but she walked over to him and placed a cautious hand on his shoulder. "May I see it? I might be able to fix it." That necklace meant a lot to him, and for reason's Alex wasn't going to express out loud. Yuri joined her, on the opposite side of Vlad though, just in case he lashed out at Alex and he had to hold him back. This was a low blow, even for Simon.

Vlad let the necklace slide into her hand, "Please… I just… I just want it fixed." That was the third time he's said used the 'P' word in the last twenty-four hours. It made him feel weird, but this necklace meant everything to him.

She looked over the necklace carefully. "I just need to go to the mall and pick up a new clamp and some chain pieces, and get some pliers from the garage. I can have it done before tomorrow." The 'P' word? Since when did Vlad ever use Please? Maybe once or twice in his life since he was little. She wouldn't push him to tell her what was going on, but she would make Yuri get to the bottom of it and tell her.

He nodded, she got a Please from him. She wasn't going to get any thank you as long as it was still in pieces. "I think I'm going to go lie down… I'll call you later, Yuri." He grabbed his jacket, and went straight to his room, somehow leaving the lingering scent of pomegranates, knowing that he spent the night with Ravan with just that smell. Along with some insight to how broken he was this morning, but nothing leading them to why.

Alex watched as her brother went upstairs to his room. She wanted to know what was wrong with him, but it wasn't often he talked to her about his feelings. To stay on his good side though and have more hope that he would talk to her, she turned to Yuri. "I can't drive, so can you take me up to the mall? I think fixing this will better his mood."

**OoO**

Ravan sat in front of her vanity mirror, trying hard to cover up last night. Vlad had to sneak out of her balcony window because they over slept. The feeling had finally coming back to her arm after him almost cuddling her to death. A weakness that she had never seen in him put her on edge. Vladimir Makarov was weak for one thing, one person – and it was her. She prayed his enemies wouldn't find out, or else this could be much worse. Her hand pressed more concealer over the last inch of purple on her face. A decent size bruise in the shape of a hand, most importantly a ring indent on the index finger. Now, who wore a ring on his index? Only Vlad did. She despised the suffocation of make-up on her skin more than anything, but she couldn't let Vlad get caught.

Gary had fled with their parents to the store this morning, leaving her alone. Not wanting to open the door, or even act like she was awake. Wearing long sleeves to cover the finger imprints on her wrist from the prying world. Was staying with him a good thing? What did he mean by worse for her? Vlad would never seriously harm her… would he? It was a thought that was burning into her mind, the thought that he might actually consider doing some serious damage to keep her mouth shut. While lost in her thoughts, she didn't even hear Simon coming up the stairs. He opened the door and collapsed onto her bed. "H-hey, Simon. You startled me," she laughed, "did Tommy wake you up this morning?"

He groaned into one of her pillows, which smelled suspiciously of cologne. "Yes, the ass woke me up, and I had a late night. I couldn't find Alex anywhere last night!" Looking up at her, he could make out a color change in her skin. "Since when do you wear cover up, Ravan?"

"Oh, I was bored and decided to experiment with make-up," it felt like Vlad's lying was rubbing off on her, "you know, girls do stuff like this?"

He smelled the pillow and sheets. "And why do your sheets smell like cologne? Like…" He knew the cologne, but where had he smelled it? And Ravan didn't just 'try on' or 'experiment' with makeup. Why would she lie to him?

"Um… After you and Vlad ruined Alex's and I's night!" She yelled at him, standing up quickly. Where was she going with this? "Gareth drove me home, and we played Alien Extinction on Ghosts for a little while because I was so upset. Don't piss off Vlad again by telling him Gareth drove me home, because I'm pretty sure he hates him as much as you!"

"Why the hell would I tell him? I'm already in a shit hole with Alex! Now calm your ass down and stop yelling at me! It's too early in the morning for this!" He stood after her, frustrated and tired. Alex was missing and not returning any of his calls or text messages.

"I have a right to yell at you!" Tears streaming her face, the tightening of her facial muscles hurting her cheek more. If those two had just behaved, she wouldn't be lying right now. She wouldn't be covering up anything! "You and Vlad ruined my night! Alex's night too! All we wanted was to spend time with our friends and boyfriend, but no. You two had to fucking play macho men and fuck everything to hell!" She was glad she shelled out more money for water proof make up. She sniffled. "That's all we wanted…"

He felt awful for last night. He didn't mean for any of that to happen. "Ravan, please don't cry on me. If you want me to admit my faults, I will. I shouldn't have started a fight with Vlad and I shouldn't have been an ass to you or Alex, and I shouldn't have provoked him in the first place. I'm sorry Ravan, okay? I've spent the entire night feeling bad about it, so what do I have to do to get you to accept my apology?"

Ravan looked around, "You and Vlad both need to do a lot of to get any apology across to Alex and I. You two need to learn to get along with one another," she hugged him, "you're like my brother, Simon, but I can't have you getting ready to throw down on my boyfriend. Or in other words, your girlfriend's brother. All you two need to do is just get along while we're in the room." Her fingers wrapped around his collar and she pulled him down to her level, "Or else I'm going to dump him and disown you," she growled.

He put his hands up. "Okay, okay! I get the message – if Simon doesn't behave, Ravan and Alex will kill him. I understand, I'll try, just don't kill me. I'll try to be a better person, but only if he does. The asshole needs to comprehend that his sister isn't very _innocent _and there's nothing he can do to stop it." He smiled at Ravan. "So if he can behave himself and stop trying to provoke me, then I'll do the same and stop trying to provoke him."

"If this doesn't stop, I'm going to cut his _and _your dicks and hang them on my wall! I'm so fucking sick of this shit! You two acting like tiny children! Well, guess what? I have a child brother already, and I'm not a pedophile! So, just get along already!"

His eyes widened in fear. "Okay, okay! I'll try to behave, I really will! Just leave my dick alone and I'll try to behave!"

"Good! I'd hate to have to touch it, but it'd make a nice mantle piece."

He thought for a moment. "I don't think Alex would like that though. And have you heard from Alex? She hasn't answered any of my texts or calls and I've left her like seven voicemails!" He sighed. Women could be so exasperating! He said he was sorry about a million times, what more did she want from him?

"No, I haven't. I haven't heard from anyone since last night. Gary didn't even say good-morning to me today because he rushed with my parents to the store."

He ran a hand through his hair, worried. "I don't mean to sound like a creep or anything, but she wasn't at home this morning – I checked. I went over to Jase's house and she wasn't there, so I thought she'd be here! This woman is going to kill me Ravan!"

"Like you killed our night? All of us would be having breakfast right now at the diner like we had planned, but you and Vlad had to have a battle royale out in front of the school. This is your and Vlad's mess to clean up, not ours. So stop saying shit like we're going to kill you, or we're being unreasonable. Do you know how much we spent on our dresses? Do you know how long we spent to look beautiful for you two? We all won Royalty! Every other fucking sane person at our school would've been excited! Not you two assholes! We didn't even get our Royalty dance, and you're over here trying to be a victim – you selfish son of a bitch."

"I will get on my knees and beg like a little girl in front of you, Gary, Jason, Alex, and _Vlad_ and say I'm sorry for everything, but please help me find Alex! It's not like her to ignore me, even when I'm an ass! Can you call her or something? Or…" He sighed. "Or call Vlad and see if he knows where she's at? I'll do whatever you want, apologize however you want, just don't make me fill out a missing persons report for Alex."

Ravan grabbed her phone, "Vlad is probably home at his house by now, let's head over there. Maybe he's seen Alex, and so help me God, Simon, be-fucking-have for once in your life!" She called at him, walking down the stairs.

**OoO**

"Get the fucking door Alex!"

"If you want this damn necklace fixed, get the fucking door yourself you lazy ass!"

Vlad growled as he passed his sister in the kitchen. She and Yuri were in the process of fixing his broken necklace. Alex being the damn perfectionist she is was taking her sweet old time. At this rate she'd have it done by March! And it was October!

He draped his wet towel over his head to dry off his fresh out of the shower hair. He sure as hell needed one after last night. The doorbell rang again and he sighed. "I'm coming! Hold your fucking horses!" It didn't help his mood that Alex and Yuri were laughing at him from the kitchen. Tonight, he told himself, tonight he'd get them.

Opening the door, he wished he had put more clothes on rather than just sweats. Simon was glaring at him as he answered the door, but Vlad's eyes focused on Ravan, and they immediately softened. "Good morning, Ravan."

Ravan smiled, glancing at Simon, "You better wipe that fucking glare right off of your face." She snapped. Her arms wrapped around Vlad, his body-wash nearly suffocating her for a moment. One thing Vlad did was make sure he was clean, really clean. "Good morning," acting as if nothing had happened last night was the best she could do. It dawned on her she had never seen Vlad shirtless, before. All those pool parties were for Alex's friends, and he wanted no part of them. The thought made her blush a little.

Smiling down at her, he moved aside. "Come in, make yourselves at home." He tried not to glare at Simon. Alex was fixing his necklace, and if she could fix it, she sure as hell could break it. It also occurred to him Alex hadn't seen how Simon's face had bruised and swelled since last night. He could already be looking at his favorite necklace being broken for life.

Simon gritted his teeth, without even opening his mouth – he went straight to the kitchen. His bruised eye throbbed slightly as he found a whole new person to glare at – Yuri. Who was alone with _his _girlfriend. Then his eyes shot to what she was fixing, that stupid, piece of shit necklace he had torn off of Vlad's fucking neck during the fight. Wishing he had broke it more, the sound of it snapping played through his mind again. Making him smile lightly. "Alex, sweetheart," he hugged her tightly, "I'm so, so, so, so, so very sorry about last night. I don't know what got into me."

She ignored his hug as she took the pliers to bend another round piece of metal into place. She was more than pissed at Simon – she was in rage with him. It didn't matter to her if his face was beat up or not – last night was inexcusable. So for now, he was getting the silent treatment from her.

Turning to Yuri, she showed him the piece she had fitted on. "Look good to you, Yuri?"

Yuri's fingers traced along the chain of the necklace, "Better than the manufactures could do," he grinned.

Simon's rage started heating up under his blood, "So, this is how it's going to be? Silent treatment? Oh, fine. I just wanted to make sure I didn't have to file a missing persons report on my girlfriend. Now, that I see you're just all fine and dandy, I suppose I can just go home. Thanks for giving me a mild heart-attack, by the way." He looked down at her, "I would just like for this to be noted, no matter how mad I was at you, I always let you know I was fine." With that, he went to join Ravan in the living room. It'd probably look good if he stomached Vlad being in the same room as him.

Alex was going to show no sympathy… for now. He ruined her night, not the other way around. If he wanted to file a missing persons report and overreact when he knows damn well she can take care of herself, than he could go right on ahead. She'd deal with him later. She only had two more pieces to add onto the necklace until it was ready to be worn.

She bent the thin, round piece of metal so it looked like the letter 'U', looped it through the end piece of the necklace, and held it there with the needle nose pliers. "Yuri, please hand me that clasp." He did as he was told and handed her the clasp. She looped that same metal piece through the clasp and clamped the metal piece together.

Beaming, she held the necklace out to Yuri. "Look, good as new!" Maybe helping her mother fix her jewelry wasn't such a bad lesson.

Ravan was giggling on the couch, playing with Vlad's still slightly went hair. Her fingers pressed together, pulling upwards to try and tousle it in the way he liked. It ended up just falling right back down into place, just as it had done the three or four times before. Her other hand was being held by Vlad, who was acting rather strange to Simon. She gently kissed his neck, getting the vibe of his guilt from last night. She forgave him for that… or at least she thought she had. Can you really forgive someone for hitting you? Is that something that can easily be fixed with a simple sorry? She didn't know, her parents didn't hit her. Yes, she and Gary got the occasional spanking, but that's it.

Simon tried to keep his breakfast down as he looked at the two of them. His arm snaked around her back, her curled up tightly to him. Those two, no matter how hard he tried, never did look right. That volatile piece of garbage didn't deserve such a sweet girl. How did her parents allow this? Gary said he had snitched on it, but they said that Ravan was a good girl. Had a good sense of character choice. Apparently not, Mr. and Mrs. Sanderson because your lovely daughter is dating the school thug! He quickly changed the subject in his head as Alex and Yuri came out. Alex holding something behind her back.

Smiling at her brother, she got closer to him, and when in arms length, she held out the piece of jewelry, which looked like it had never been broken. "I know it took awhile, but ta-daa! I fixed it." Yuri playfully glared at her, an act that didn't go unnoticed by Simon by the looks. She rolled her eyes at them. "And Yuri helped too. Here you go."

Vlad grinned at the necklace. It was no longer broken in half, but his sister and Yuri had actually fixed it! He took it from Alex's hands and turned it over in his palm. "Alex…" He looked up at his sister. She was a brat, but she had her moments. "Thank you, thank you for fixing it."

Her eyes softened at him. "No thank you needed, I was happy to do it. Just please don't break it anymore." She directed most of those words to Simon. Nope. She was still mad at him.

Ravan picked up the necklace; she couldn't believe he had kept it after all these years. The stainless steel, three-inch dagger with the handle painted black spun as she held the necklace by its chain. It had been a solid four years since she bought it with Alex for Vlad's thirteenth birthday. Still as shiny as the day she had bought it. The way he acted when he got it, like it didn't really mean anything. She figured he had thrown it out, given it to a friend or just threw it somewhere – never to be heard from again. But here it was in her hands, in front of her eyes. She looked at Vlad, "You kept it?" Her voice was quiet, full of content.

Simon looked over the necklace. Great, of course Ravan _had _to be the person who bought it. It just had to be her. That necklace looks like something Vlad would buy for himself, that pompous dick. So, there were no second thoughts about ripping it off of his neck. Thinking about it now, he did see some pain in his eyes. Not only that, but his attack became more vicious. Why couldn't he be a giant jackass to everyone equally? Not have all these little soft spots for Ravan, only sane people get to do that

"Yes, I kept it. You didn't really think I threw it out, did you?" He was wounded, but he could understand why she may think he had, if she even did think that. It meant a lot to him. He wore it every single day and never took it off, except for sports. He had to fight with his coach's every time to keep it on, but it was the only battle he's ever really lost.

Seeing her brother and Ravan actually made Alex giddy. She never expected to actually like her brother and Ravan going out, but it was starting grow on her. Looking up at Yuri, she smiled, and whispered for his ears only. "You know, maybe you were right when you said she could fix him."

She looked at Simon, who didn't look the least bit happy. Now he knew exactly how she felt last night. But when he looked over at her, she narrowed her eyes at him. She wouldn't make a scene in front of Vlad and company though. Vlad was just waiting for a chance to blow Simon's head off again and she wasn't going to give it to him.

"I didn't know what to think," her voice didn't get any louder. She clipped the necklace around his neck, the dagger sitting directly in between his pecs. Her head rested against his chest again, her eyes scanning over the shinning metal a couple of times. He didn't mean that last night, he was just still pissed off about the brawl he had with Simon. Her fingers entwined with his on top of his stomach, she curled up to him as much as possible.

Alex smiled at the two of them. She was happy for her brother and for Ravan, even though she knew the others weren't. Her friends were upset about it, but it was Ravan and Vlad's choice to be a couple, not the friends. She cocked her head to the side, motioning for Simon to join her and Yuri in the kitchen. She wasn't going to leave either of them there in this awkward situation.

Guilt, that's what Vlad felt. He felt so guilty about last night, he might explode on the spot. All he could do was hold her tighter and closer to him, which was the only form of apology he would be able to muster up.

Simon stood up, his eyes still staring at Ravan. This was beyond a doubt gross. How can she look at him like that? Like he's something normal. Like he deserves her. Vlad deserves someone like Natalie, some vain tramp that didn't care about him in the least. Not Ravan, someone who loves with all of her heart. Oh, good, God. She doesn't love him, please say she doesn't love him. The thought of Ravan being in love with that jackass was almost enough to make Simon faint. She couldn't love that son of a bitch, she just couldn't. That's not who she needs to _waste _love on. Why couldn't Jason just sweep her off her feet when he had the chance? Or Gareth, Gareth could be good for her. He's smart, and they already seem like they have those sorts of feelings. He followed Alex into the kitchen, sitting down at the island table.

"I've already apologized again and again," he looked straight into her eyes. There was nothing more he could possibly say or do to make his apology be heard. "So, you can either be more mature than me and accept it, or you can be just as mature as I am and this relationship will not go any further, since it'll be stuck at a halt with you giving me the silent treatment, dear."

"You deserve the silent treatment, asshole." She crossed her arms and glared at him. She could see Yuri trying not to smirk or laugh as he opened the refrigerator. She'd deal with him later. Right now, she needed to deal with her boyfriend.

Taking a step towards him, she poked his chest and glared at him. "First off, you let my brother get to you and you being the hard head you are decided to get to him. What did you expect? He's my brother and of course he's going to get pissed when he finds out I'm having sex!" Yuri tensed at the fridge, but she ignored him. Simon went to speak, but she pressed his chest harder. "Then you got in a fight with him and sunk down to his level. You never do that! And I know you probably heard it from Ravan already, but you and Vlad fucked up last night, but you could have been the bigger man here! Instead I had to leave and…" She paused, catching herself. "and come home and spend the night by myself."

Simon looked at her, "By yourself, eh?" His eyes kept burning into Yuri, "All alone? Is that right? Alex, you wouldn't happen to be lying to me? Because it seems to me that you were going to carry on with that sentence."

Her blood was starting to boil as she followed Simon's gaze to Yuri. "Are you accusing me of spending the night with another man? 'Cause that's what it fucking sounds like!"

"Wouldn't put that passed you right now," he looked out to the living room, "seems you both think you can lie to me." That scent from Ravan's bed hit him in the face when Vlad opened the door. Gareth didn't spend the night with her, it was Vlad. He grabbed his jacket from the kitchen table, bearing down at Alex. "When you decide to come-clean with me, I'll be with Ravan and Gary." He walked into the living room, grabbing Ravan's arm. He pulled her up, "C'mon, Gary wants us to hang out with him. Your boyfriend can wait." His voice seemed deeper than usual.

Ravan looked up at him, then to Alex. Her left eyebrow raised, "Um… Alright…." She wasn't sure what was going on, but Simon seemed upset. She leant down, kissing Vlad lightly. "I'll see you guys later, I guess."

Alex looked at Simon, hurt. She did spend the night with Yuri, but nothing happened! She fell asleep with him in the truck! She bit her lip. "Simon, please don't do this."

"Don't do what?" Ravan's arm still tightly in his hand. She tried so hard not to wince, it hurt so badly. That was the arm Vlad twisted behind her back. "Don't be the actual mature one out all of this? Don't be the honest one? Don't be the one who's going to go let off steam with his friends? Don't be the one who's been acting differently lately? Don't do what exactly?" He now looked down at Ravan, "You two were making me feel like the bad guy. Making me feel like I had a lot to apologize for, but I don't. I let my temper get the best of me. I did give into Vlad's teasing. But for fuck's sake, I have apologized. Now, you have the _gall _to blame something else on me?"

Ravan put her hand on Simon's, "Simon, c'mon. I'll make your favorite coddle and Irish soda bread."

He looked at her, "You lied to me too! You said that Gareth spent the night with you last night, but it was Vlad! How come you two can lie to me, but God help me if I defend myself? How in the fuck is that even remotely fair!"

Everything was falling apart in front of her. It was like when she got busted by Vlad for having Simon and Jason over. She was losing control of the situation and she was on the verge of losing her boyfriend, a boy she loved very much, but had never actually said the words to him. But she wouldn't stop him from leaving. Lately they had been having so many problems, but this time she knew it was her fault.

Looking at her brother, she could tell he was ready to fight for her. That's what she loved most about her brother – he acted like he hated her, but if she needed him he would be there.

She looked back at Simon and Ravan. She so badly wanted to tell him the truth, but not here in front of Vlad. And she feared he would leave her. She knew he was angry, not by how he acted, but he hadn't kissed her goodbye like he always did.

"It's because we care dammit! You get lied to because I care about your feelings and I love you!" She stood there, shocked by herself. She had been with Simon for 7 months and hadn't really said the 'L' word. Now here she was, yelling it at him. What a romantic she was, telling her boyfriend she loved him in front of her brother, his best friend, and her best friend.

Simon didn't let go of Ravan's arm, "I love you too, Alex, but you don't lie to someone you love. If that's your conception of it, then I'm not really sure what to tell you. Just because you care about someone doesn't justify you lying to them." His stare went to Ravan, "And you, you're the one who always says 'hurt me with the truth, don't satisfy me with a lie'. Here you are, acting like Vlad."

She looked down, "Alright, Vlad drove me home yesterday after you two were done fucking each other up. There was a conversation, we were both tired and went to sleep. I just didn't want you to tell Gary because then I'd never be able to do anything."

"Now, was that so hard?" Simon asked. Ravan was glad he was only observant to a degree, but his brain is still probably distracted with Alex at the moment. "Alex, when you've decided that you're in the wrong this time, and not me – I'll be over at the Sanderson's. I'm not going to be the one to beg on my knees for you this time, I'm not going to swallow my pride again because you don't know how to."

She looked at Yuri. She wasn't going to throw him under the bus, but he was nodding to her, asking her to tell him. Yuri could handle Vlad , and she was sure he could make him understand, but the risk of the truth of their past relationship coming out wasn't something she wanted.

She wasn't winning this battle. She wasn't going to give Yuri up and risk everything they had covered up coming to light. What would Simon think of her relationship with Yuri? He wouldn't be happy. As far as he knew, he was her first and her first boyfriend. Then there was her brother and Yuri to worry about.

Looking up at Simon, she felt tears in her eyes. "Go to Ravan's then, since I'm apparently lying." She turned her back on him and started to her room upstairs. "I'll talk to you whenever, Riley."

Simon sighed heavily, "Alright, Makarov. I haven't done anything wrong, so when you decide to act like Alex and not Vlad – let me know." He started pulling Ravan towards the door, her face wincing slightly.

"Let me hug Alex first," Ravan pulled away from him. She walked over to Alex, hugging her. "I'll deal with this, don't you worry. He'll be running back over here by the end of today," she whispered quietly. She then walked back over to Simon, who grabbed her arm again. Why was he holding on to her? The pressure on her wrist made her yelp slightly, covering it up with a cough. "Swallowed wrong!" she chuckled.


	14. Heart's A Mess

**So here is Chapter 13. I'm going to try and post another chapter in a couple days, because I will be without my laptop for a couple weeks. It's being sent in because it's being rather stupid and slow, and a bunch of words I will not say. Everything I've done seems to have failed, so this was the final option. I will also be without any Microsoft Word, so using another computer is not an option. **

**PFC. Awesomeness: Yeah, these do get pretty long. I apologize for that. I will try to update ASAP, and your curiosity will not be disappointed, I hope. Thank you for reviewing:D**

**As always, Ravan belongs to Quiet Alias, who is not on fanfiction but another website. Alex belongs to me. Jason is MacTavish because it was confusing having two Johns, and Gareth is Gaz. Enjoy!**

**OoO**

Ravan sat cross-legged on her bed, the black comforter with the white design soft under her. Her bright green walls, with dark, navy blue carpeting. All around the room were pictures of her friends and family, most noticeable was the nine by nine picture of she, Gary and Simon when they were nine during Halloween. She sighed, leaning back on her palms. The pain in her wrist and arm dwindled over the past couple of days. "So, Alex," she wasn't sure who's side she was on in this argument. Simon shouldn't have fought, but Alex shouldn't lie to Simon. If she was even lying. "What did you do after homecoming?"

Biting her lip, she looked away and out the window. She could tell Ravan, couldn't she? It wasn't like she was going to tell Ravan she had a relationship with Yuri, she was just going to tell her what happened last week after homecoming.

"You won't judge me, will you?"

"So, Simon is actually right," she sat upright, "I'm not going to judge you."

Alex's spirit dampened. So Simon had been talking about? It made her feel worse. "Yeah, I sort of didn't spend it alone."

"Sort of?" Ravan glanced over at the crack between her wall and her bed. She could faintly see the tip of Vlad's tie slipping down. How long had that been there? How did she not notice it before? Her head flushed with homecoming all over again, shaking her head to come back to her room. "There's either you did or you didn't."

She followed Ravan's eyes, but they darted back to the window as her face turned red. Well, now she could tell Vlad where his tie went. "I didn't spend it alone, unless I can count being one of two people alone in a place."

"No, you can't." She crossed her arms, "Who'd you spend it with, my dear?"

Trying to avoid the question, she looked back at the tie. "Who did you spend _your _night with, _dear_?"

A small chuckle came from her throat, "With _my boyfriend_. But nothing like that, we had a small, verbal fight about how I was mad. He apologized, he was tired and he passed out here. Now, who'd you spend your night with? Because it wasn't your _boyfriend_." She didn't like when people tried to turn things around on her.

She sighed and fell back on the bed. It was time to stop avoiding it. "I spent it at the lake with… with Yuri." There, she said it. She spent the rest of homecoming night with the very person who pissed Simon off the most, besides Vlad.

"Well… that is… something." Ravan reached to grab Vlad's tie, her long sleeve pulling up slightly. She fiddled with the silky smooth ebony material as she searched her mind for something to say. Simon has been her best friend way longer than she's known anyone else in their group. But both he and Vlad were asking for them to go do their own thing. Her grip tightened, "This is a conversation you need to have with Simon. I hate to sound like I'm taking someone's side on this, because I'm not – but this is your fire to put out. You know how much Simon hates Yuri, and then you tried to cover it up from him. That's what's bothering Simon the most, actually. That you didn't just come out and admit it, but would rather lie to his face. Now, I love both of you very much – but if you two can't work it out, and be civil with each other – I'll dump you both. I'm not putting up with that."

"He's going to think something happened and nothing did! We sat in the back of a truck, we talked, we threw some rocks, and he gave me my royalty dance. And then we fell asleep and came home. I know I should have told him, but he's going to assume that I did something with him! Yuri and I…" she sighed. "He's really just a big teddy bear! You get him alone and the guy doesn't shut up and he is genuinely nice and he's just… he's an amazing friend, Ravan."

"That's great, but that guy treats Simon like garbage for no reason," she sat up, "Vlad has his reasons, even since middle school those two have been equally at each other's throats. But Yuri's only mean to him because Vlad doesn't like him, now how is that even remotely fair?" Her finger fixed her pinky ring, "Besides that, the only reason Simon will think you two did something because you lied about it. Lying equals deception. Deception is a synonym of cheating. So, yes, he does have grounds to believe something else happened. I don't believe anything else happened, and I have no right to believe anything else happened. However, Simon does. You lied to his face, and then tried to play a victim." A light smile formed on her face, "A trait you two seem to share."

Oh, if only Ravan knew why Yuri hated Simon so much. "Is it bad that I still want to hang out with Yuri? I know Simon's going to be mad, but I can't really avoid him. Yuri practically lives at my house!"

"It isn't bad, no. Not at all," she pinched the bridge of her nose, "but you're not seeing the huge, fat, fucking elephant in the room. Simon wouldn't care about you hanging out with Yuri if you stopped fucking lying to him. Whenever he comes up, you start acting like you have something to hide. So, Simon thinks you're hiding something! When you act how you're acting, all nervous and dodging questions – a dumb, deaf and blind man would think something is up."

Simon had no idea of the lies she had told him. He had no idea she had been with Yuri for a little over a year. Even if she told Simon what happened the other night, there was still the fact she had slept with Yuri, and multiple times at that. "Well he lives down the block. I guess I could just tell him and get it over with. If the worst happens, then it's my own damn fault." She went to get up, but collapsed back on the bed. "But maybe I'll take a nap for the rest of my life and go eat some food." Nope. She had the lady balls to stand up to her brother, but there was no way in hell she had the balls to tell Simon she had been with Yuri the whole night. Nope, not happening.

"Whatever you choose to do, it is now between you two." Ravan continued to play with Vlad's tie, it sending a warm feeling into her stomach. Then a shivering chill down her arm, down her spine and seemed to split the warm feeling in half. The black pillow to the left, on the outside of the bed still smelt like him. Her memory of being on the inside, Vlad's arm over her torso so tightly. Made her sleep on the inside so she couldn't sneak off to tell Gary, is what he told her. She thinks it's because he was actually scared of what might happen, or that he was going to lose her. One bruised remained a deep purple, the one against her back. Smack-dab center, still a dark purple in the middle, but yellowing toward the edges. The one on her arm wasn't visible, but the one remaining on her wrist was. It was a pale, sickly yellow against her pallid skin – a small trace of navy blue. It wasn't recognizable, however.

Her emerald orbs shot back up to Alex, her hands still fidgeting with the tie. If only she knew what her brother did. Maybe she did. Would Vlad ever tell Alex what he did to her? Or how about last night? The argument that broke out between them when she didn't tell him that Jason was going with her, Simon and Gary bowling. Oh, he threw a fit. She didn't know which one he hated more, Jason or Gareth, but he hated them both. He _screamed_how much he hated them at her. _That geeky piece of garbage and that stuttering fuck_. Banted through her head over and over again. As she tried to leave his room while he continued to yell at her while they were alone, he reached up and grabbed her by the back of her hair, pulling her back towards him with a _thud_to the floor.

Once again, he apologized and begged for her not to go. He didn't mean it. He lost his temper. He would make up for it. He bought her a choker necklace, an actual ruby sitting right over the center of her throat. How he paid for it, she didn't know. Seemed more like a marking present. _'You're mine'_ She looked back down at the tie, wondering why she continued to stay. She didn't know. She'd probably never know.

Alex tore her eyes from the window as her phone vibrated – it was Vlad. What the hell did he want? He never texted her or called her unless it was an emergency. Opening the text, it was a simple smirking emoji face. She couldn't help but reply _*what the fuck?* _back to her brother. She shook her head. He'd been strange ever since Homecoming, stranger than usual. And now he was texting her? Her brother was having a mid-life crisis or had a personality disorder none of them knew about. When she thought about it, Ravan was acting strange too.

Not wanting to press Ravan's buttons, Alex was going to resort to using Yuri as a mole into Vlad's life. Vlad told Yuri everything, if not mostly everything. And she knew Yuri was still loyal as fuck to her. God, if she started hanging out with Yuri he was going to get like a dog in heat! And she would be the bitch! Although he'd never beat Vlad in that instance, he came pretty damn close.

Her phone vibrated again, this time a call from Vlad. She picked up the phone and rolled her eyes. "Why are you talking to me?"

A deep voice, yet sounded like velvet, came over the line, _"Hey Ally! I was just wondering if you wanted anything from the mall? There are some cute bellybutton rings here, and if you don't tell me what you like, I'll pick something out myself." _Of course it was Yuri! Bastard must have kidnapped Vlad's phone.

She felt her face turn red as Ravan looked at her. "If you're buying, I want something shiny and dangly. Bye jackass." Alex only turned redder as she felt Ravan's gaze. Now this looked bad, really bad.

Ravan crossed her arms, "That didn't sound like Vlad. I know Vlad's voice, I hear it about ten hours a day. Who was that?"

Alex groaned. "That, Ravan, was Yuri being Yuri." She shook her head. Simon wasn't going to like her being friends with Yuri, especially when Yuri was just as overprotective as Vlad. But who was she to pass up free jewelry? If Yuri was buying from the mall, it was going to be expensive. If he was buying, she was taking.

She just looked down at her lap, shaking her head slowly. Wanting to change the subject, she jokingly put the tie around her neck. After tying it, she look at Alex. Her smile was light, "I don't know about you, but I think I'm sporting this better than Vlad."

Alex smiled. She wanted away from the Yuri thing for now. "It's a little long on you, but I agree. Throw on a black shirt and it'll match nicely."

Standing up, she posed a couple of times. The final, she placed a hand firm on her hip. Grinning like the Cheshire Cat, she stopped. The rest of her outfit disheveled from all of the moving about. "Not sure if it would make Vlad laugh or just irritate him if I wore this to school."

Noticing her sleeves riding up, Alex's keen eyes caught sight of coloring on Ravan's wrists – purple, a little blue, and some yellow. Yuri had come over often enough for her to know the different stages of bruises, and she had her own experience to add to it.

"Well, I know my brother well. I think he'd get a good kick out of it," she shook her head at Ravan's wrist, not sure what to say. "So, do anything that could leave marks lately?"

Ravan's head cocked to the left a bit, "Oh, this?" she gestured to her wrist, "Gary and I went skating with the family at the Roller Rink, and I slipped. I'm glad I didn't break it or anything." She drug the tips of her fingers over the top of the fading bruise, "Could've been a lot worse, you know?"

Alex was rolling her eyes in her mind. She knew when Ravan was lying, but she wasn't going to call her out on it. When Ravan wanted to tell her what really happened, she would. For now, she'd ignore it. "I can't imagine what Vlad would be like if he found out your broke something. He's a possessive one."

"I suppose he is," she giggled, "I can't imagine what _I'd _do if I broke something. Bones take so damn long to heal and it's my right wrist. I'd fall so far behind on school work while trying to figure out how to write with my left hand." She looked up at Alex, "But hopefully, your brother being a Prince in Shining Armor would help me."

She chuckled. "I don't know if you know, but he's not stupid. He's actually a smart kid. I have Simon get into the grade book and look at Vlad's grades – the boy only has one bad grade! He's not as stupid as everyone thinks he is." And in reality, neither was Yuri. Vlad was surpassing her in math classes, which happened to be her worst subject, and actually tutored her every Sunday for an hour. The boy was bright, he just needed to get his head out of his ass.

"I never thought Vlad was stupid," she sat back down on the bed, "anyone who can figure out how Andy gets through the school to the precise minute to have water mixed with jello powder dropped on his head, without any fuck ups from any other student, is pretty damn smart." Her eyes glanced around,

"He's not stupid, he just… does stupid things…" the last bit of her sentence tailed off, but she quickly regained a smile. "I think I need to get some pictures with him to put in my room, I have everyone else, but not him."

"I can do that for you if you'd like. If it's just a picture of him you want, consider it done. If it's you two together, then it'll be harder. Vovka _hates_ pictures. Mom tries to take them all the time and let me tell you – he puts up one hell of an argument over a stupid picture." Alex looked over the pictures in Ravan's room. "But maybe if _you _asked him, he might let me take some."

"I just need one of us together, or maybe two. Depends on how lucky I am, given how you described his open detest for pictures," her index finger tapped the ruby on her choker, "Perhaps, it'll be different because we're dating. That's always on the table, I mean, he hates watching romantic comedies, but he sat through _New Years Day_ with me."

Alex smiled. "Exactly! He'll listen to you, he has a soft spot for you."

She returned a very faint smile, yes, a soft spot. That could harden quickly into rage if she misteped or pissed him off. He could be the most caring and wonderful guy on the planet to her one second, and then a rage stricken warden the next. He was like a rollercoaster that gave you whiplash, but whose fault is it? The coaster's or the person who continues to ride it, even though it's given them whiplash before. "Yeah, he does."

Once again, her phone started to ring. And again, it was Vlad. She looked from her phone to Ravan and back at the phone. It was a picture message of a Camaro at the mall with Yuri leaning against it, with a caption of _*Someone stole your car*_ Her brother knew her so well. But it was unlike him to send something like that. What was he up to that had him in such a good mood?

Ravan stared blankly down at the floor, trying to push off the memory of the last two weeks with Vlad out of her mind. He was her boyfriend, he said he cared about her. Cared enough to put her in back in place, or cared enough to show it with violence. Her lungs hid a sigh, not letting her breathe out for a moment at the thought of ever being left alone with him for a long period of time. But it was inevitable.


	15. In Too Deep

**Finally got Word back on my computer. So happy! I'm going to try to keep this not short and sweet so ya'll can read the new chapter.**

**Prinzessin Mia: We both try our best when we write, and I'm glad you enjoy it:) But that is a good question I should ask: AlexXYuri or AlexXSimon? **

**Reviews are always welcome and encourage, as well as favorites/follows.**

**As always, Alex belongs to me, and Ravan belongs to Quiett Aliass, who is not on fanfiction. Jason is MacTavish because it was confusing at times to have two John's, and Gareth is Gaz. **

**Note: Something I probably haven't made clear is I don't write this by myself. Aliass and I get on an instant messenger and write it together, so you can usually tell who has written what. It's a back and forth thing. I do NOT write this by myself. We write it together.**

**OoO**

Vlad's arm was snaked around Ravan tightly, both of them cuddling on his bed – watching something on TV. They were alone, Alex had gone off to Simon's to finally face the music. He kept glancing at her, but she wasn't paying attention to him. Her eyes fixed in front of her – watching the stupid Sitcom. He cleared his throat, gently pulling his arm away from her. She noticed, but pretended she didn't. No need to start an argument over nothing. The bed moved as Vlad sat up, remote in hand. Clicking off the TV, he now turned to look at her.

Sighing, Ravan sat up to join him. This night was going fine, no one was being pissy. By no one, she meant Vlad. She stretched for a minute, how long had they been laying there? Her eyes looked back at him, he was picking at his sleeve. What did he want? What was wrong now? She mustered up a smile, hopefully to keep his words at bay. Or at least, unsaid for now. Scooting closer to him, she placed a hand on his arm. "Are you okay, sweetheart?"

He could hear her, but his thoughts were elsewhere, in a darker place. He was trying so hard not to get angry, but he could feel his stomach starting to burn like fire. "No, I'm not okay."

It was the honest truth. He wasn't going to lie and say he was, because in reality, he was about to combust. "I saw you with Jason yesterday, at the mall, just the two of you, when you were supposedly with your brother at your house."

Her posture changed as she sat up straight, "I was with my brother, Jason stopped by and we all went to the mall together. You probably just saw us when Gary was in the restroom," she giggled, "the boy can't hold is lemonade to save his life."

This didn't help him. "But you told me you were staying at home for the day. I stopped by and you weren't there, so I thought you were asleep. I take Alex to the mall to go shopping and what do I see while I was waiting for her? You at the mall. You lied to me."

"Alright, I should've texted you that I left to go to the mall, but Gary yanked me out of the house. What did you want me to do, hun?" She started to distance herself from him.

"Let's see, you could have texted me on your way there, you could have texted when you got there, or while you were there, instead of letting me think the worst when I saw you with _Jason_." He held up his fingers as he counted them off.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what else I can tell you. I know I should've texted you, but I honestly didn't think it'd be that big of a deal."

He ran a hand through his hair, trying to calm himself down. "It is a big deal when you were with _him_. I don't like it, Ravan!"

"Vlad," she touched his arm, "I'm sorry, I should've really told you. All we did was go check out Hot Scene and a couple of comic book and video game stores."

"It was still Jason MacTavish! And the fact you didn't tell me!" A couple months ago, he wouldn't have given a shit about Jason, but after Alex told him about Jason's crush on Ravan before school started, he started to give a shit.

"I'm sorry! Jason is my friend, and he was my friend long before you were my boyfriend. He wanted to hang out with Gary and I, was I supposed to say no? I just wanted to hang out with my brother, and Jason just happened to show up."

He glared at her. "So, because you've known Jason longer he's more important?"

"No, just.. ugh." She stood up, "I'm not going to talk to you while you're like this. I can't put one foot right when you are."

Like all the other times, he grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him. "Just what? No just what? Say it."

"It's just I don't have to walk on egg shells around him." She yanked her arm away from him, almost sending _him _to the floor. "I can talk freely with him, and the rest of my friends. With you, it's like talking to a warden. Or a cop. Everything I say can and will be used against me, and I'm getting tired of it."

"Every damn time you say you're tired of it!" His fingers twitched, his temper starting to get the better of him. "You always make it sound like you're questioning _this, us_!"

"I am beginning to question us!" As soon as the last word left her throat, she slapped a hand firmly over her mouth. She didn't want that to escape her lips, but he was just so frustrating. "I didn't mean that."

His eyes narrowed at her. "If you didn't mean it, you wouldn't have fucking said it."

"I think I should go," she reached for her bag.

Vlad tugged her back towards him, making her hit his chest with a thud. "I think different,"

She stared at his plain, charcoal shirt as her mind tried to figure a way out of this. This was heading down a road she didn't want to go down. Not again. Not this soon. Calmly, she pulled herself away from him. "I think we both need to cool down," her voice sounded strong, even though she was scared.

"How can I calm down when you're questioning this? When you're lying to me and hanging out with other guys!?"

"I didn't lie! I forgot to tell you that I left my house, _warden_. I am oh, so sorry that Jason came over to hang out with Gary, but he was already hanging out with me. All I was at the mall to do was hang out with my brother!" She yelled at him, seeming to stun him for a moment. "The reason I question this, _us_, is because you treat me like I belong to you! Like I'm your property!"

He grabbed her again, this time tighter. "Because _you are_ my fucking property!" He twisted her arm around into an unnatural position. "_You_ belong to _me_, not to any of those fuckers!" His movements livid, here it was. The final drops of anger to bust open his temper.

"Vlad, stop it!" She screamed at him, scratching down his arm.

Vlad stood up, her arm still in his hand. His property. His girl. His _Ravannah_. After all of that waiting, the years he's been yearning for her. And those little fucks were about to come in and mess it all up. Apparently, the slap on the wrist technique was no longer working. He grabbed her by the upper arms, tearing her right off of her feet as he stared directly at her.

Ravan's legs kicked under her, trying to kick him. Wanting to get away. All she had to do was get away for one second, then she could dart down the stairs and out of the door. Vlad threw her into the wall, landing on her back. She couldn't breathe for a minute, a white haze around her eyes with the wind being knocked out of her.

He pulled her up by her hair until she stood on her own feet. _Smack! Smack!_Two smacks with the same hand, quickly and with much anger behind them. Shoving her back to the ground, stared at her. Watched her try to get to her feet, trying to escape. Escape him and leave him. His shin collided with her side during an attempt to stand up, knocking her back on to the floor. Coughing, tears streaming her face. Some might think that he'd stop with her tears, but not this time. He wasn't going to let her off so lightly this time.

She couldn't breathe, her body trying to get her back up. The crying she couldn't stop wasn't helping her leave any faster. She tried to get up again. _Thunk_. Another kick to her side, this one harder than the one before. She curled up in a ball as he kicked her. _Thunk. Thud._Kicking her legs, her back and her arms as she kept her face tightly covered. One of his wild kicks slammed against her arm, her arm hitting her nose. She couldn't tell if that made her eyes water even more, or if he crying was just getting harder.

His hand reached for the back of her choker, pulling her up slightly. Her choking gasps hit off his eardrums, but it made him feel odd. He let himself listen for a minute, he crying breaths trying to break free. Like it was something he liked, so he quickly dropped her. He just listened to her cough and cry, his anger dispersing quickly from his body as he began to come back to a neutral feeling. Ravan was sobbing into the floor, blood beginning to make a trail from her nose. Like a crimson trickle, flowing towards him.

Ravan could taste her own blood as she cried against the hardwood floor of his room. A strong, throbbing pain in her side. Minor pain coming from the rest of her body, but she had her hand around her choker. He choked her. He actually choked her. She didn't want to look up from the floor, she wanted to pretend this was just some sick dream and she was going to wake up any minute now. Reality continued to set in as she felt her hand on her back, lightly rubbing it. _Just stop touching me!_She screamed in her head.

His breathing was harsh and ragged, like when he'd get done doing his punishment laps at football practice. But this, this was different. He shook his head and blinked a couple times as he felt the anger leaving his body. What the fuck had he done? He ran a hand through his hair, panic setting in just like it did the other times he had done this. But it occurred to him he hadn't done _this _before, at least, not this bad. "Fuck!"

Ravan sat up slowly, holding her stomach. A velvet like cover over her lips, and under her nose. With a couple of little streams down her chin. The only clean parts below her nose, besides her cheeks, were little segments where her tears had washed some of the blood away. She looked at him, battered and broken. She should've just told him where she had gone, then this would've never happened. He wouldn't look her in the face. She had a coughing fit, some of the blood that had trickled down when she was gasping had spat out little notes on his floor. Even little bits on the walls. She didn't know what to say, she didn't know what to do. All she knew was she was in pain.

He couldn't look at her, the guilt flooding back to him all too fast and making him shake. All he saw when he looked at her was Alex when she was ten years old – bloodied, bruised, crying, and completely helpless. And there was nothing he could do about it. Except now, here he stood a couple feet away from Ravan, and instead of being the one hiding under the bed watching, he had been the one inflicting the pain. He wasn't sure what was driving him, maybe it was the guilt or the heavy heart he had as memories flooded back to him, but he placed a shaking hand on his dresser and pulled out one of his shirts for Ravan.

Even as he approached her, he couldn't look at her. He had done this. This wasn't him and his father, or his father and Alex, this was him and Ravan, and he had done it. He couldn't speak or bend down; he just gently dropped the white shirt to floor next to her and walked back to his dresser.

Her own set of anger finally began to seep in as she caught a glimpse of herself in his closet mirror. She threw the shirt towards him as she shakily stood up. Finally, finding the strength within herself. She looked directly at Vlad, spitting some of the blood from her nose onto the floor. She just shook her head at him, standing up straight. It hurt her to do so, but she needed to let him know how high her pride actually could be. Gary and she had gotten into fights like this, she broke his fingers once. This wasn't her brother, though. This was her boyfriend. Someone who cared about her, but never enough to say he loved her.

The tips of her fingers inched across the table in front of her, until her index was on top of a CD case. She pulled it towards her, taking it in her hand. _Sounding of the Seventh Trumpet_ by _Avenged Sevenfold_. He loves this album. He loves all the songs. He loves the band. Pretending to admire the cover-work, she opened it up. Gently taking the CD in her hands, she looked dead straight at him. Making sure she made eye contact. _Snap_. Holding the two halves in her hand, she broke each one into fourths. Before flicking all four pieces at him. Ravan was more of an 'I'm going hurt them by breaking something they love' kind of person, more than a physical violence person.

Vlad watched the pieces fall to the floor, clattering at his feet. He just stared at the four pieces of the CD, slightly catching his broken reflection in them. They reflected just how he felt – broken and unfixable. He told himself he would stop, that he would find the will to quit doing this, but here he stood, unable to look at her face or any other place where he could see her, and he couldn't speak to her. He couldn't find his words, so he just stared at the shards of the CD.

She grabbed another CD, this time _Papa Roach_. She did the exact same thing with it. "Just break up with me," she snarled at him, Her hands wrapped around one of his football trophies. Her hand slammed it down, _crack, thunk. _In her hand was still the little person, but on the floor was the rest of the trophy. Maybe if she broke enough of his things, he'd break up with her. Making her seem crazy, or making him hate her. Something. He would never let her break up with him, but she would let him break up with her.

His eyebrows furrowed together as he looked at his football trophy, broken into pieces. He got the courage to look at her. She was angry and she had every right to be. But that was his trophy – _was_. "Ravan, stop before you make your… your condition worse."

"Worse?" She laughed. Her hand picked up the winning football from his first win in Freshman year. In her other was a pen. She stabbed the ball, throwing the deflated husk onto the floor. Her heel grinding it, making a swishing sound. "My only condition is that I have you as a boyfriend!" She sounded like Gary, when he does that high-pitched yell of his. Another trophy, _crash_ into the floor – bit of it flying. "Break up with me, you fucker!"

Frustrated, but not angry, he ran a hand through his hair. "God dammit woman! I'm not going to breakup with you! You can break everything in this room, you can break me, but I'm still going to love you damn it!" His eyes widened. Good god, did he just say the 'L' word? Holy fucking shit he did. He was turning into Alex. Saying his feelings without thinking and in the midst of sorrow. He just stared at Ravan, wide eyed and waiting for her reaction.

Ravan set down the trophy she had in her hand and walked towards him. Blood still caked onto her face, limping and holding her side tightly. Still pissed about him doing this to her, beating her. Without really thinking, she slapped him across the face. _Hard_. His eyes seemed to have gotten bigger. "This is not how you treat someone you love," her voice breaking, "if you loved me, you wouldn't be doing this shit!" _Crash! _His iPod just hit the wall. "How do you expect me to cover this up, fucker?! All I do is give you love, give you my attention and give you chunks of my life and this is how you repay me?!"

Did she just… hit him? He stared at the wall, his head still turned to the side. The sting spread through his face as he stared at his wall, shocked and wide eyed. He would say he was sorry, but he had said that so many times already and knew it wouldn't work. Apparently expressing his true feelings wasn't working either. Nothing was working. So he did the only thing he could do when his father had hit him – he closed his eyes tightly and waited for the next blow.

"Why do you do this to me?!" Ravan grabbed him by the jaw to make him look at her. "Why," she grabbed his T-Shirt and wiped some of the not yet dry blood off of her face. She pulled up her shirt, showing the forming bruise. Her arms held out in front of her, bruising. Pointing down at her legs, which were a faint purple on her shins. "Look at me. Look at what you've done. How can I hide this?" Her anger dispersed as he looked at him, his eyes tightly shut. "Vlad… I've cared about you since we met. Yes, you were a bit of an asshole, but I didn't care. I do love you, I love you with all of my heart. But I can't keep covering up these lies – I'm never going to be able to cover my bruises. What am I supposed to do? Because the only I can figure out is to break up with you and throw my friends off of your trail."

He shook his head. She sounded like his mother when she was abused and it made him feel worse about himself. "Tell your friends. Tell them about this. Tell them and maybe they'll kill me, and put me out of my damn misery!" Now he sounded like his father, though much less angry and more like a spooked animal. But that's what he felt like. He felt like he was backed out of corner he thought he'd never be in again, yet here he is in it, that corner he was in for ten years.

"Yes, because that's my goal in life. To get you killed. That's exactly what I want, Vladimir. My God, you've caught me. Let me call up Gary now so he can prepare the noose in our basement." She crossed her arms, "Do you have any idea of what that'd do to me? That would hurt me more than you could probably comprehend. I don't want you dead, and I don't want to hurt you. You just keep hurting me…"

"But what I'm doing now hurts you more! Ravan, I don't even know what the fuck I'm doing half the time! I don't mean to get angry, it just happens! I..." He ran his hand through his hair again. How could he explain this? He couldn't explain it and that was the problem.

"Believe it or not, you dying would hurt me more. This," she gestured to her body, "physical heals, the bruises are going to fade. This blood is going to wash off, and about half the blood I've lost through my nose has already been replaced." She gently took his shaking hands and held them. "Emotional pain hurts more. Mental pain hurts more. If you were to die or kill yourself or whatever, all that would hurt me more. Emotional and mental pain take more time to heal, and there isn't a pain medication that I could take for that. Just you talking about wanting them to kill you made my stomach twist and my heart stop for a second."

His eyes wandered her face, not quite believing her. "I've hit you, I've abused you - now I'm causing you more pain. Looking at you now and seeing what I've done, I want them to kill me, hell, I want to do it my fucking self!"

"Vladimir…" she let go of his hands, "fine, then tell them. Slit your wrists. Hang yourself." She turned away from him, "Leave me then, I'm just going to let you know one thing." Her voice was small as she looked back slightly, "If you do kill yourself, or if you get killed – I want you to know you're taking a part of my heart with you." She knew she was supposed to be mad, but her fucking heart just kept getting in the way. She had to love so much. She had to care so much. Sometimes it's more of a curse than a blessing. "You're always going to have a piece of my heart… you're my first love."

"First… love?" The word 'love' rolled off his tongue, like it was a foreign word to him. His eyebrows scrunched together, the confusion plain as day on his face. He cocked his head to the side. That word was his light in the darkness he was in. He looked down at her and did the only thing that seemed plausible in the situation - he hugged her, holding her tight against him. "I'm sorry Ravan, I'm so sorry..."

Ravan turned around to hug him back tightly, it hurt a great amount – but she just bit her lip. She pulled away, gently fixing his hair like she always did. Picking him up, like she always did. Fixing him, making him better. At what cost? For some reason, she knew she should be smarter than this. She knew she should just leave him and never look back. But… she couldn't. Every time she was so close to finally doing it, but she just could never place the final foot out the door. Maybe it had something to do with him being her first love. After all, love is probably dumb, deaf and blind at times. It has to be for things like this to happen. "I'll call in a favor from that dumb bitch Mikky, saying to cover for me. A fake slumber party. I'll stay here with you tonight, we need to figure out what I'm supposed to do…" she just focused on his hair, not even looking around. This became a coping mechanism for her.

"It's not exactly fake..." He said, trying to lighten her mood. How could he let himself do this, to hurt her this bad? He kissed her head, "you could stay here until you heal decently. I'll stay with you."

"We need to figure out how to hide this from people, like your sister." She looked up at him, "Yuri too. Especially Yuri." Her lips lightly pressed against his. She really couldn't figure out why she still loved him, but she did.

He smiled at her, trying to comfort her. "Yuri is harmless. He's no gossiping highschool girl - he's my brother. If he found anything out - and I say if - he wouldn't tell everyone." Vlad wouldn't be anywhere without Yuri. And as much as he hated to admit it, he wouldn't be anywhere without Alex either. "And Al, she's helpful. She's, ya know, handy?"

"Not for this," she pulled away from him, "it'd find its way to someone's ear. Someone that doesn't need to hear it. You have to promise me this stays between us," she looked back at him. There's no way Alex would keep this secret, but it was more for Ravan. She didn't want people knowing she let this happen. She continued to let this happen. That she was too weak to break away from him, she didn't want people to know anything about this. _Ever_. "This is our little secret that _has _to stay that way, Vlad."

"I didn't plan in telling anyone. I don't want to tell anyone. All those other girls I've...dated, if their brothers found out, Ravan, I'd be dead in a heartbeat." And it was the truth. More than half the girls he'd been with had brothers, and they would kill him, no questions asked.

"I don't just have one brother, Vlad. I have two, plus a group of friends, _plus _my dad is Chief of Police. Honestly, I don't even want to think about what my Honorably Discharged, Purple-Hearted Marine father would do." Her stomach tightened, it made her hunch forward from the pain coursing all through her side.

Ravan's father and his mother... Dear god he'd be demolished. If his mother found out, she'd send him straight to hell. "Your father and my mother... I'd be dead, with no second chances."

Her hand wrapped around his as she pulled him towards his bed, once again to try and pretend like all that didn't happen, ignoring the pain and the shattered pieces of Vlad's things on the floor. He sprawled out in the middle of his bed, staring up at the ceiling. She straddled him, sitting on his stomach. "So, genius," she looked at him, "what are we going to do?"

Putting his hands behind his head, he smirked at her. "I can think of a couple things..." He let his eyes wander, and despite her beaten state, he still thought she was the most beautiful girl on the planet.

She refrained from pinching the bridge of her nose as she leaned forward, placing her hands against the headboard of his bed. "First thing you go to, eh, General Sexual?"

His smirk growing, "Well, when a beautiful girl gets on top of you and asks you what you want to do, sex is the first thought on General Sexual's mind." And he was thinking about it a lot at the moment. Her leaning over him and what not was only making his thoughts worse, but in a good way.

She narrowed her eyes at him for a moment, "Mhmm, I see. Let me just go grab another girl to take my place so you can have more thoughts, jackass." She stuck her tongue out at him.

He laughed at her, almost forgetting what had just happened - almost. "She isn't gonna be you, Ravan. The thoughts will still involve you."

Ravan grabbed his shoulder and pulled him up. Her legs wrapped around him, and his arms wrapped around her. She placed her forehead against his, sharing the same grin. A secret she with-held from EVERYONE was she was a closet nymphomaniac. When she found a partner to have sex with, it really kicked in. She faintly grinded against him, his arms tightening around her. This would be a great way to forget about the rest of this night, plus it'd be a great stress-reliever. Pressing her lips against his, it immediately became a rough, passionate one. It never dawned on her how long it had been since she… well, with anyone. The hidden part of her finally broke out, and she was _hungry_.

Vlad chuckled deep in his throat and pushed her down on the mattress. He was surprised by the sudden boost of whatever the hell this was, but he was damn well happy about it. What guy wouldn't be happy about sex? All he knew was that he was happy that Alex left the house for the night. If she had been here, then damn – heaven wouldn't be happening in his world now.

**OoO**

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